ANOMALOUS RECORDS

Agentur Bilwet / Brüsseler Platz 10a-Musik / Hajsch
"1000 Fehler"
CD
$12.00
supposé (Germany)
3-932513-13-4
"theory is not care, nor is it a substitute for forgotten services and ideologies." texts of Agentur Bilwet, Geert Lovink & Pit Schultz, and Adilkno as read by Geert Lovink, and set to the backdrop of experimental collage sound by Brüsseler Platz 10a-Musik (Georg Odijk, Marcus Schmickler [Pluramon, Wabi Sabi] and Jan St. Werner [Mouse on Mars, Microstoria, Lithops]) and Hajsch (former member of PFN). the first 7 tracks are read in Germany, the last 4 tracks are read in English and cover "The Society of the Debacle", "Old Media", and "Electronic Loneliness". Agentur Bilwet and Adilkno have books published through Autonomedia in New York. Digipak.

Agitation Free
"The Other Sides of Agitation Free"
CD
$14.00
Garden Of Delights (Germany)
GOD 032
"When Burghard Rausch and Michael Hoenig left Agitation Free in 1974, the band was almost in a state of apparent death. Yet Michael Günther and Gustl Lütjens eventually decided not to give up and so, during the autumn and winter of that very year, joined by some new musicians from their scene, they would give it a try in the recording studio. Thanks to Manfred Opitz and Gustl Lütjens, the outcome was a set of rather jazzy tracks which were, however, rejected by Vertigo as being 'unsaleable'. On 'The other sides' these tracks can be heard for the first time, supplemented by extracts from their political-rock radio play 'Störenfried' ('trouble-maker'), it too from 1974. Those are rather unusual sounds for a band like Agitation Free, some of the tracks even featuring vocals. After that disappointment the band eventually broke up. With 36-page booklet." - label description.

Christian Alati, Giuseppe Ielasi & Ruggero Radaele
CD
$14.00
Sonoris (France)
SON-14
"This new project from Giuseppe Ielasi (from the Italian label Fringes) gathers two guitarists and one percussionist. The two prepared guitars are used as a sound generator for electronic devices with, on top of these, subtle (mostly) metallic percussion. From quite and minimal ambiance to more strong and electric pieces, this record is a very good example of this new school of improvised music influenced by electroacoustic techniques." - label description. comes in Digipak.

Oren Ambarchi & Martin Ng
"Reconnaissance"
CD
$16.00
Staubgold (Germany)
staubgold 15
"'Reconnaissance' is the first duo release by Australian composers Oren Ambarchi and Martin Ng from Sydney - a trilogy of pieces based upon the fluid architectural modulation of harmonics and resonances. Recalling the landmark experiments of the Sonic Arts Union (Robert Ashley, David Behrman, Alvin Lucier and Gordon Mumma), Ambarchi and Ng create an enigmatic tapestry of pulsing, shimmering and shifting sound which represents a subtle and compelling realignment of Eastern and Western minimalist traditions." - label description.

AMM
"at The Roundhouse"
CD
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
ICES 01
The first release from the ICES concerts from August of 1972 in London. The International Carnival of Experimental Sound, or ICES '72 for short, was an ambitious festival sprung from the mind of Harvey "Job" Matusow (1926-2002). Jumping off from his associations with Source magazine, Harvey brought together over 300 artists from over 21 countries to perform in London, England over the course of two weeks in August of 1972. Based on the theme of Myth, Magic Madness and Mysticism, he assembled an amazing diversity of performers working in diverse range of audio-visual arts. Encompassing happenings, films, dance, a train ride, and the phantom soft pool table, the focus was on sound - specifically that of artists who were both composers and performers. Most of the concerts were held at The Roundhouse, a cavernous structure that was formerly a railroad engine house, and recorded by John Lifton and his assistants. Now, for the first time in 30 years, these recordings can be heard. AMM was formed in 1965 by Lou Gare, Eddie Prevost, Keith Rowe, and Lawrence Sheaff. The line-up swelled to also include Cornelius Cardew and Christopher Hobbs, and sometimes composer Christian Wolff. From 1971 up until 1976, AMM found itself stripped down to the duo of Prevost and Gare. After that time, Rowe replaced Gare, and Eddie and Keith have continued making AMMusic ever since, mostly with the help of John Tilbury, and occasionally others, and are still a powerful force. The aesthetic of AMM is that of improvised music freed from the constraints of musical style. Their sound is ever evolving and free from the ego of individual players. "Music from half a lifetime ago - that was a very good creative time musically and maybe a new generation will appreciate what we were doing then and still are doing now. Playing with Eddie in that format, just the two of us, was my most rewarding musical experience after the break up of the AMM quartet. When Eddie and Keith tried to get it together again with the four of us I could not go back to that after the freedom of the duo." - Lou Gare.

animist orchestra
"wuwei"
CD
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM14
studio recording of Jeph Jerman's small sound orchestra with Dave Knott, Mike Shannon, Jeffery Taylor, Robert Millis and Marina Granger. "in seattle in 1996, i began giving performances using mainly natural objects as my 'instruments'. after many such performances, two friends suggested (independently of one another), that i might try doing it with a group. as this idea had occurred to me a few years previously, i thought perhaps they were right. in june of 1999, the animist orchestra began its history as a working group. we got together nearly every week for the next three months, to play and discuss our playing. our first performance was given in eric lanzillotta's living room for a small group of friends, and was well received. from the beginning, the focus of the orchestra has been on listening, and improvising in the moment. a group of people truly playing together and focusing intently on the present can be a powerful thing. the use of natural objects (stones, shells, pine cones etc.) as opposed to more conventional musical instruments, can help the players to not fall back on learned habits of musical play. there is no canon or book of rules to refer to when using everyday things as sound makers, and this may facilitate the removal of actions arising from taste and memory. during the initial period of discovery for the orchestra, dave knott made the observation that, when when playing and focusing on the sound being made, it was 'like the spirit of the thing is telling you ho it wants to move'. mike shannon once told me that when i play i seem to be animating the objects with my hands. i think these comments explain the name of the orchestra better than i could. i wanted to make a CD of the orchestra to document our work together, and to show my admiration and gratitude for the friends who have agreed to join. i don't think they knew what they were getting into." - jeph jerman.

Aube
"Millennium - Aprilis"
CD
$14.00
Armonika (Italy)
KA200004
the fourth installment in 12 CD series for the year 2000. there is one CD for each month of the year and one track for each day of the month. this is the April installment and uses only the sounds of fire as source material. limited edition of 500 copies. "A musical project that will catch your mind and soul for one year's time: Aube, a well-known genius of the international scene, will offer you one of the great events of 2000; he will dedicate to the first year of the new millennium a monumental sonic opera in twelve chapters. Every month of the new year will offer you a taste of Aube's artistic talent; a seducing mixture of obscure influences and experimental excursions, from noisy structures to ambient landscapes. From January to December, along the four seasons, from a solstice to an equinox, Aube will lead you in a pleasant one year period journey from the dawn of first day to the twilight of the last one, with the ideal soundtrack for the beginning of a new era." - label description.

Michel Banabila, Hannes Vennik & Bobby
"Cards On The Table"
3" CD
$8.00
Staalplaat (Netherlands)
STCD 153
"Whatever can be shuffled, will be shuffled. That must the philosophy behind this 3" CD. For the creation of this rather bizarre conceptual work, the trio uses a deck of playing cards to decide when and how the sampled contributions will be combined. The entire work is based on samples of a wide range of styles including jazz, old avant-garde classic, musique concrète, kitsch, dot matrix printer-symphonies and ethno-electronics just to name a few of the expressions that awaits the listener. The overall surface has an exciting film noir-atmosphere based on slow groovy jazz melted into the shuffled sample-inferno. Divided into 28 tracks, the 18 minutes long work is fragmented into small pieces. Unnecessary to say: Random play for optimum shuffle!" - Niels Mark Pedersen, Vital Weekly 272.

Bark!
"Swing"
CD
$14.00
Matchless Recordings (England)
MRCD41
electroacoustic improv with Rex Casswell (ex-Stock, Hausen & Walkman) on electric guitar, Phillip Marks on percussion and Paul Obermayer (also in Furt) on electronics. "On this album Bark! have boiled down and condensed the astonishing range of sounds available to them into something basic, forceful, coherent and accessible. To me the music appears as a kind of conversational game, built of molecules and fragments, dots and dashes, calls and responses, moves and counter-moves. Out of this game, narrative, line and structure develop really distinct structural shapes growing in time. It's not clear to me how this little miracle takes place but I think you can hear it, especially in the development of longer tracks like 'Pavo', 'Grus' and 'Swing'. It is quite severe music, sometimes ugly and disturbing, but it's also always striving to be beautiful. At its best, when its shapes evolve patiently and inevitably into clear and tangible orders, vistas and architectures, the result is really quite magnificent." - Richard Scott

Beequeen
"Gund"
CD
$15.00
Plinkity Plonk (Netherlands)
plink 011
droney ambience. "500 copies. A final dig in the vaults for the Beequeen, resulting in the following release: 'Gund' is now available as a CD on Beequeen's private Plinkity Plonk label and has two recordings for two vinyl projects. The first four pieces on the CD were recorded early 1998 for a 12" vinyl single on which these tracks were supposed to be cut at different speeds (16, 33, 45 and 78 RPM). Due to its complexity of pressing this record was never realized. The fifth and sixth track were originally intended to form a 10" album of a most unlikely meeting by Beequeen and MSBR, the well-known Japanese noise act. Based upon a mutual sound exchange, both Beequeen and MSBR worked independently on their pieces. The label that intended to release this, stopped while both bands were still recording. Beequeen finished their piece in 1998 and MSBR decided to do a new piece in 2001. All five Beequeen pieces are Beequeen 'old' style, recorded before their decision to alter their direction in music, but it's probably one of their most refined moments in this style. 'Gund' is released in a limited edition of 500 copies and comes in a gorgeous hand-printed sleeve by Knust, Nijmegen, designed by Meeuw." - label description.

M. Behrens
"Advanced Environmental Control"
CD
$14.00
trente oiseaux (Germany)
TOC 952
two works: "Location Recordings" (1993) and "Advanced Envionmental Control" (1995) ranging from naturalistic to highly artificial, abstract soundscapes. "'Location Recordings' consists exclusively of recordings that are made in the interior ('Inside') or exterior ('Outside') spaces. Two groups, each containing 12 selections of the original 75 tracks on the disc were formed: one contains selected sounds with a 'monochrome' structure, the other contains sounds with a constantly changing, rather 'expressive' structure. These two groups are juxtaposed in different ways in the 'Supplement Programs' to function as a catalogue for 'Location Recordings'. 'Advanced Environmental Control' tries to investigate the relations between the real and the virtual inhabitants of a given environment. On one hand it is an acoustic description of both the inhabitants and the environment, on the other it is determined in its function by the structure implied by another environment and inhabitants: the composition. There is no primary composition in the basic material (masses of people and traffic signals for the blind), although it is taken from a larger contextual background. Some of the structures of this material, alternated with various methods, are used for the overlying macrostructure." - from the liner notes.

M. Behrens
"Integração"
CD
$13.00
SIRR.ecords (Portugal)
sirr2004
"'Integration' is a composition that Marc Behrens has been performing live in several versions. It was composed in a process of integrating all experiences made throughout almost one year of performing the basic score. With every performance, new aspects were added to the whole piece. In all the performances there is a basic repertoire of sounds consisting of a nucleus of tree recordings made in a mountain forest close to the Italian/Slovenian border in 1998, which in the performance arrangement became broadened with more recent material. The tree recordings were made by shaking the trees, thus the patterns of the sounds were generated partly by the plants, partly by human intervention, and arranged later according to coincidences and inherent keys in the material. The CD version does neither contain any live recordings nor the original sound of the auxiliary speakers which were specifically made for the performances. For this version Marc Behrens used the tree recordings along with a few field recordings of urban infrastructure, made during the preparation of the composition 'Advanced Environmental Control' and later, preserving the original intention of the first performance: integration of a naturalistic and a technicized conception of sound." - label description.

Luciano Berio
"Ricorrenze - Music for Winds"
CD
$16.00
Materiali Sonori (Italy)
MASO CD 90075
includes "Ricorrenze" (1985-87), "Sequenza I" (1958), "Sequenza VII" (1969), "Sequenza IX" (1979 rev. 1995), and "Opus Number Zoo" (1951 rev. 1970). performed by Mario Ancillotti (flute), Paolo Pollastri (oboe), Giovanni Riccucci (clarinet), Paolo Carlini (bassoon) and Paolo Faggi (horn). "'The experience, tinged with utopia, was very useful to me…'. Luciano Berio's career is one distinguished by his unceasing research and his curiosity towards sounds in every form, and where wind instruments have always played a major role. '…resolving the tension between today's creativity and yesterday's'. This record proposes five tracks where complexity of technical-instrumental experimentation blends variegated languages with a perfect interplay. 'Virtuosity of awareness' and latent 'polyphonic' melodies." - from the back cover. bilingual (Italian/English) booklet includes writings by Luciano Berio and Tommaso Ulivieri as well as the text of "Opus Number Zoo" by Rhoda Levine.

Pierre Berthet & Frédéric Le Junter
CD
$14.00
Vand'œuvre (France)
VDO9407
a sort of split release though the duo seem to be collaborating on all the tracks. the first section is made up of songs; primitive and strangely idiosyncratic in a uniquely French way. the second portion is two longer introspective instrumental pieces, and quite contrasting from the energy of the first. the first is percussion and the second droney and very subdued and even drifting into silence a few times. the instruments used are mostly those of the artist's own creation such as tubular drums and rotating wind organ, and are displayed in use throughout the booklet.

Andreas Berthling
"invalidObject Series (with)"
3" CD
$11.00
Fällt (Northern Ireland)
F.0014.0024
minimal textural noises from this Kim Cascone collaborator and member of Tape. "The fifteen tracks included here were created exclusively for this project, but feature several elements that consist of earlier material, either re-made/mixed or used as layer(s) within a totally new context. All of the tracks are improvisations recorded directly to hard-disk then edited to fit in length. Track 04 'With(er)' consists of samples taken from Otomo Yoshihide's 'Digital Tranquilizer': DT-1 and DT-2. This release is limited to a worldwide edition of 250 copies." - label description. packaged in a regular jewel case with silver, black & white artwork.

Biota
"Bellowing Room / Tinct"
CD
$13.00
ReR Megacorp (England)
RéRBCD2
this CD joins two long out of print LPs originally released on Recommended Records in 1987 and 1988. ReR describes Biota as
"An extraordinary, compact and somehow timeless unfolding of recognizable and unrecognizable sound, permanently mutating or being shattered or imbricated." certainly the voice, harmonica, recorder, bass guitar, autoharp, tapes, trumpet, psaltry, banjo, cheng, ukulele, alto saxophone, bass clarinet, flute, piano, accordion, kit drums, congas, bongos, bodhran, melodica, bellows, kalimba, toy piano, pipe organ, electric organs, guitar and percussion are melting by processing into an amorphous whole with twisted and reshaped sound that resembles nothing else. very special music. with 16 page booklet of visuals reproducing images from the folio and labels of "Bellowing Room".

Biota
"Tumble"
CD
$13.00
ReR Megacorp (England)
ReR BCD
"'Tumble' is a commissioned for CD work, using the maximum available parameters offered by the medium. More recognizable organization of materials here." strange musical textures made from acoustic instruments which are truly unique and sit outside any style. bending, pushing and manipulating sound. instrumental sources used on this recording include organs, guitars, banjo, flute, harmonica, guitar, psaltry, trumpet, tapes, piano, Rhodes, accordion, kit drums, bongos, bodhran, side drum, and concertina, plus guest appearances from Deborah Fuller (violin) and C.W. Vrtacek (piano & baritone ukulele). a fantastic and unique experimental group. includes 16-page booklet with visual from Mnemonists.

Biota / Mnemonists
"Musique Actuelle 1990"
CD
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM25
Biota was founded in 1979 in Fort Collins, Colorado, as the Mnemonist Orchestra. Over the years, the Mnemonist Orchestra developed into Biota (the musical contingent) and Mnemonists (the visual contingent). Both Biota and Mnemonists work as one on productions of musical and visual components. The group has released nine LPs, one EP, and four CDs in addition to several cassettes and compilation ventures, on both their own Dys label and Recommended Records UK. Heard on this CD is the first live adaption of their studio-based recording techniques since 1981, as presented at Montreal Musiques Actuelles - New Music America 1990. For their live performance they composed a set of material specifically for the concert and virtually relocated their studio to the stage to properly recreate it. Nine musicians playing only acoustic instruments (aside from electric guitar) were heard natural and unamplified from the stage while extensive electronic processing, heard through the speakers, rendered radical tonal, timbral and temporal modification creating an incredibly unique and strange sound world. For the first release of this music, Biota have combined the best recordings from both the rehearsals and the concert itself. Added to this, the two-dimensional graphic work that Mnemonists have become so renowned for was transformed into stunning video projections - beautiful examples of which are now included in the full color booklet accompanying this CD.

Heimir Björgúlfsson
"Machina Natura (An Interpretation Inconsistent with the Actuality of a Situation)"
CD EP
$7.00
Staalplaat (Netherlands)
STCD 148
"Staalplaat is proud to present the tenth release in their 'material series', this one by Heimir Björgúlfsson. Now what is the 'material series'? A series of CD's with microscopic, microwave, glitch, click or whatever it is called music. All CD's are packed in jewel cases with no printwork. All information is etched on the CD box itself. Inside special material is housed, like, in this case wallpaper. The CD itself is a so-called AB CD: a small ring with music, and the outside of the CD fully transparent. New solo CD by Heimir Björgúlfsson, who makes up one third of the Icelandic trio Stilluppsteypa, with a special guest appearance by American sound artist John Hudak. Continuing where left off from last year's 'Discreet Journey Digitalis' on Ritornell. 'Machine Natura (An Interpretation Inconsistent with the Actuality of a Situation)' contains two different worlds spinning into each other, the digitally generated sound and various natural field recordings, still sounding like neither. A somewhat man made mechanical phenomenon. 14 minutes." - label description. Minimax CD (3" CD in 5" plastic disc).

Blessed Oblivion
CD
$10.00
Ventricle (U.S.)
VENT-14
a new installment in the silver series of psychedelic Mellotron and sound collage mixed with ghostly female vocals. this new ensemble features Amanda Christina, Dusty Lee (formerly of Mauve Sideshow, Steeple of Fyre, Mistress of Strands, etc.), and Dana Devereaux. dark, cosmic and ethereal. silver foil cover and tray card.

Jaap Blonk, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Michael Zerang
"First Meetings"
CD
$16.00
Buzz-Records (Netherlands)
ZZ 76002
free improvisations for voice, cello, percussion and tubaphone recorded at Airwave Recording Studio, Chicago, on November 19, 1996. many will know Jaap Blonk as a contemporary performer of sound poetry from The Netherlands. here his non-worded contortions are matched by acoustic instrumental accompaniment from two Americans which slips and slides in a complementary manner. the sounds are energetic and constantly in motion, shifting their form. although titled "First Meetings" the trio fit together like a glove, albeit one designed by Surrealists.

Peer Bode, Joseph Scheer and Jessie Shefrin
"Real Time Shifts"
CD-ROM
$5.00
Institute for Electronic Arts (U.S.)
IEA0001
Bode, Scheer and Shefrin are coworkers at the Institute for Electronics Arts along with Andrew Deutsch who contributes to the sound production here. like Deutsch's work, this trio works with overlapping layers information - both sounds and images. with the help of Darrin Martin, the work of these three artists has been made interactive on this CD-ROM. each has their own section of the disc which is made up different areas to explore. each piece as it were consists of looped sounds and moving visual moving at different rates allowing them to constantly recombine. left to their own devices, these pieces are fascinating little worlds of noise, but when the user mouses over a hidden hot spot, the sounds and images progress into their next stage. I could easily see artists taking this CD-ROM as a starting point to add their own sounds to. this CD-ROM is both Mac and PC compatible, but the authors suggest that is works best on Mac G3 2.66 MHz or better with QuickTime 3 or better. those interested in the history of electronic music might want to note that Peer Bode is the son of the man who invented the vocoder (among other things) and that he uses images, sounds and notes from his father in his work.

BOP
"And So It All Ended"
CD
$12.00
Firework Edition Records (Sweden)
FER 1009
weird music from the duet of Thomas Bjelkeborn (modified MIDI-guitar and diverse MIDI gadgets, MAX programming) and Paul Pignon (clarinet, basset horn, bass clarinet, voice, midi wind controller) which mixes improvisation with modern classical composition and heavy electronic processing. all tracks recorded live with instruments connected to a computer and various samplers with software in Opcode MAX specifically constructed for each composition.

Brad Bordine
"Same"
CD
$8.00
Vitalist Recordings (U.S.)
SAME01
"Same is the debut CD by Brad Bordine. The music is some time, and some space. The title revisits Luc Ferrari's 'Tautologos' series, performing a minor renunciation of lexicality. This is not denying reference, but expanding symbol and symbolized to overlap." or as Monica put it: "Somber, exquisitely sparse and stark pieces from LA-based musician Brad Bordine. 5 tracks of haunting atmospheres, silence and sound keeping a perfect balance throughout. Especially notable is track 4 (entitled 'February'), a 13 minute piece which uses the piano as a minimal yet powerful focal point."

Alessandro Bosetti & Annette Krebs
CD
$16.00
Grob (Germany)
GROB.540
"In the summer of 2001 we got a recording from Alessandro Bosetti, saxophone player, improviser, composer of musique concrète and at that time having lived in Berlin for less than a year. The recording has pieces that he had just recorded with the guitarist Annette Krebs. The decision to release these recordings was made quickly, and in the summer of 2002 it should have appeared. Due to an unlucky chain of events, the recording is appearing only now, nine months later. But nothing has changed about its radical nature, its unconditional modernity. Krebs and Bosetti are among some of the most exciting musicians from Berlin, both have long been well-known in international circles. Annette Krebs, who plays an electro-acoustically prepared classical guitar, belongs on an equal basis with improvisers (and composers) such as Andrea Neumann, Taku Sugimoto, Toshimaru Nakamura or Axel Dörner, with whom she has worked with, she belongs in a category of those musicians who have expanded the concept of improvisation beyond Free Jazz, Post-Serialism or the 'English School' in the last few years. Stillness, minimalism, noise (but the later is not meant in the sense of a racket, but as a kind of unmediated sound), rustling, consciousness of structure and spontaneity, all of these experience a new value through these musicians - above all through Annette Krebs' way of playing the guitar. The saxophone player Alessandro Bosetti has also devoted himself to a radical noise-like way of playing, and yet one always senses how strongly he has been influenced by Steve Lacy and modern jazz of the 6'0s and 70's. In their duets, they do not, however, simply extend their work on noise. The music is formed by a pronounced sense of structure. They work on short units, with many pauses and stillness - but never for the sake of a pause (or stillness). Each pause has it exactly defined place in the dynamics of the music. Bosetti and Krebs savor monochrome tonal colors, research the gray behind the gray - and nonetheless this music is not monumental, not simply noise, not a hermetic block. It is a very exact, reflected music that never becomes overbearing or stiff. It has something casual, in the best sense of the word, its non-ambitious. Although one really senses the work involved in it and necessary for it, the music remains unstrained, completely nonchalant and cool. The artwork is from the musicians, made after a model from Franz Hautzinger." - label description. Digipak.

Alessandro Bosetti & Antje Vowinckel
"Charlemagne, La Vue Attachée Sur Son Lac De Constance, Amoureux De L'abime Caché"
CD
$15.00
Bowindo (Italy)
Bowindo 03
"Two electro-acoustic compositions from 2000 and 2002 by Alessandro Bosetti, and a recent text-sound composition by Antje Vowinckel. Finely composed abstract music that, starting from microscopic sound details develops organically and highly dynamically despite the very reduced structures. Both of the pieces make an extended use of silence, space and very small, carefully shaped, sound particles creating a feeling of natural 'breath' and flow. Although this music shares some techniques with the 'musique concrète' it goes much beyond in giving new musical life to sounds and suggesting new approaches in listening perception. For those who know Alessandro Bosetti for his activities as improvising saxophonist in the new minimal scene with Phosphor, Annette Krebs and others and for his text sound compositions, it will not be difficult to recognize his personal way of organizing sounds. Also hearing Antje Vowinckel's piece, could be a surprise for those who know her as one of the more significative and granted author of new experimental radio plays in Germany." - label description.

Paul Bowles
"Migrations"
CD
$16.00
Largo (Germany)
LARGO 5131
famous as a prolific author and translator, Paul Bowles was also a composer early in his life. a student of Aaron Copland, Bowles' music was not experimental (however one of the pieces here does have a thematic relationship to Kurt Schwitters' "Ursonate"). his music is lively and melodic and he composed scores for productions by William Saroyan and Tennessee Williams, as well as the Max Ernst and Alexander Calder episodes of Hans Richter's Surrealist film "Dream That Money Can Buy". this disc includes recordings of "Concerto for Two Pianos, Winds, and Percussion" (1946), "Sonata for Flute and Piano" (1932), "Music for a Farce" (1938), "Sonata for Oboe and Clarinet" (1931), "Hippolytos and Salome" (1992, 1993), "Scenes D'Anabase" (1932) and "Night Waltz" (1949) performed by Martyn Hill (tenor), Dietmar Wiesner (flute), Catherine Milliken (oboe), Hermann Kretzschmar (piano), Olga Balakleets (piano) and The HCD Ensemble of Frankfurt. many of the performers are also members of Ensemble Modern, and three of them visited Paul Bowles in Tangier in March 1994. the 32-page bilingual (English / German) booklet contains a timeline of the composer's life and program notes by David Drew as well as short recollections on the pieces by Bowles himself.

Max Brand
"In Memoriam"
2 x CD
$23.00
Rhiz (Austria)
RHIZ006
the first and only release of the electronic music by this Austrian electronic music pioneer born in 1896. there are 21 tracks by Brand from his archives, plus collages made from his archival materials by Dieter Kaufmann and Curd Duca, and a disc of remixes by contemporary Austrian artists. 14 of the 17 remixes avoid beats and stay true to the original spirit of the work. "Max Brand composer, musician, producer, dramatist, librettist, filmmaker, theoretician and visionary. In 1959 Brand, then over 60 years old, turned in a completely new direction which was at the same time was consistent with his earlier concepts: in order to create electronic music, he had Robert Moog, then at the beginning of his career, build a special synthesizer, a prototype of the Moog series which later became ubiquitous in the world of pop music. the resulting works - 'Notturno Brasileiro' (1959), 'Die Astronauten' (1962), and 'Ilian 4' (1974) - failed to achieve success, and today they are rarely performed and recorded and are unavailable. CD I/'Max Brand' contains some Brand originals and serves as good cross section of Brands multi faceted archives. CD II/'In Memoriam' contains re-workings of original Brand material by various members of of the new electronic scene of Vienna including Pulsinger-Tunakan, Radian, Fritz Ostermayer, Epy, Pita, Dorninger-Androsch, Alois Huber, Curd Duca, Fon, Quehenberger-Kollreider, Elmü, Musikkreis MS 20 and Pure." - label description.

Pascal Broccolichi
"Raccorama"
CD
$16.00
La Box (France)
LaBoxBourges03
a 1998 installation soundtrack made up of an aural montage of sounds, noises and silences which is at times are very hyperactive, but also often very quiet. some of the cut-ups are crude and humorous destructions from popular culture, not unlike YouTube poops. other sections are long and mediative using less clearly recognizable sound sources. "Initially one is aware of a kind of arrangement (of sounds, of noises, of silences) which describes no motif, which reflects nothing that could be assimilated to any identifiable figure, nothing that affords a global view. 'Raccorama' organizes the destruction of narration, or rather, its obsolescence, declaring its irrelevance, not because it is somehow an 'abstract' creation (like all fixed binary systems, the abstract figurative dichotomy usually reveals a remarkable theoretical and visual intelligence), but because it reintroduces into its ordering narrative fragments that exhaust the possibility or the necessity of narration as such, that wear it out. Sampled from the world of the most banal, most common sounds, these fragments, these jingles which usually decorate what our unstable attention allows us to perceive without really listening, these sounds which are present but not noticed, are so many small stories or themes which, without making much noise, reproduce a predicable order, an expected combination. When they are linked to other sounds or noises that take them out of their obvious context, when they lose the framework of their quotidian efficacy and become active in other territories than those for which they were designed, they become markers in the aural space. They thus acquire a transfigured effectiveness which integrates this marked narration into a movement, a process of production. But since this dispossesses them of themselves, stripping them of their intentionality, it allows us to see only the movement of the order as a whole, in which they appear as singular movements. They are themes that will never add up to make a story, whose suddenness holds back the listener/viewer's attention. The idea is to leave room for the play of narration, to relate nothing at all, to let things be heard." - from the liner notes by Thierry Davila.

Paul Brock
"A Lover in Japan"
CD EP
$20.00
Kajibi Production (France)
KP 19983
we got copies of this obscure French release from the Omega Point shop in Japan back in 1999. the 6 short tracks, which total just under 27 minutes, collage and sample sounds of streets, homes and lives of Kyoto, Japan during the composer's stay that year. described on the cover as "environmental electroacoustic music", the disc is comparable to contemporary works on the empreintes DIGITALes and INA-GRM labels with its acousmatique treatment of sounds and rhythmic loops. there is only one other place on the web offering this title and they are asking a bit more of it. definitely an obscure artifact.

Chris Brown
"Talking Drum"
CD
$12.00
Sonore (France)
SON-015
"binaural motion recordings composed as a dialogue of distances. live recordings of music for electronic network music ensemble juxtaposed with location recordings of traditional music and environmental soundscapes made in Bali, the Philippines, Turkey, Europe, Cuba and America 1991-99." - from the back cover. the 27 tracks here find Chris Brown of the Mills College faculty recording solo and with location specific ensembles in many fascinating places. this disc serves up a selection of percussion, field recordings and wild electronics. includes guest appearances by Wadada Lee Smith, Nick Peck, Curtis Bahn and Scot Gresham-Lancaster. Brown has two solo albums on Tzadik and appears on a number of other discs on the label as well including their Luc Ferrari title.

P. Miles Bryson
"The Weight of the World - A Long Day's Tango into the Night"
CD
$12.00
SSSM (Japan)
SSSM-103
"Contact mic'd trees in the wind, water pump and contact mic'd water pump, a bathroom faucet (regular recording and contact mic'd), night birds, various sound snippets from tango and orchestral pieces, barrel cactus spines, rubbing and striking sticks and twigs. The name and partial inspiration for the piece is taken from Peter Handke's 'The Weight of the World', which text was also used in the artwork on the CD jewel case." limited edition of 500 copies.

Thomas Buckner
"Full Spectrum Voice"
CD
$12.00
Lovely Music, Ltd. (U.S.)
LCD 3021
includes Robert Ashley "Odalisque", Jon Gibson "Rainforest/Brazil (He Was Not Disappointed)", Nils Vigeland "March, Hymn and Waltz", Peter Gena "Mother Jones", Annea Lockwood "Night and Fog", and Roscoe Mitchell "three songs with lyrics by e.e. cummings" performed by new music's acclaimed baritone. "For twenty-five years, the experimental composers of Manhattan's vital downtown scene have been the primary interpreters of their own music. Recently, however, a number of expert performers have begun championing them, and no vocalist has given them more of his time and talent than Tom Buckner. The composers on this CD, a varied cross-section of new music circa 1990, are all close to that experimental scene, and this disc represents a small part of what Buckner has done to create and sustain a vocal new-music tradition in New York." - Kyle Gann featuring musicians include Tony Barrero, Jon Gibson, J.D. Parran, "Blue" Gene Tyranny, Joseph Kubera, Tom Hamilton, and Michael Pugliese.

Dan Burke & Thomas Dimuzio
"Hz"
CD
$13.00
Sonoris (France)
SON-11
collaboration between Dimuzio and Burke of Illusion of Safety recorded live in San Francisco. improvised live electronic from two noise veterans. "Dan Burke has called this one of his favorite works he's put out. Dimuzio is the guy behind Gench Studios, the place where so many experimental labels get their stuff mastered. 'HZ' is a refined, driving, eclectic nightmare of beats, darkhop and odd sound tones and soundscapes. The listen deepens as it progresses, with varied layers of styles developing and fading." - Vince Harrigan. Digipak.

Neil Campbell & Rob Hayler
"In Luck"
CDR
$9.00
Fencing Flatworm Recordings (U.K.)
ff021
"6 tracks, 34 minutes of electro-loopage, starting fairly minimal, then spilling over into glorious drunken forest swirl. Not so much a midway point between Campbell solo and Hayler's Midwich project, more another door opening into somewhere new." packaged in folded color artwork.

C.O. Caspar
"Thus Long Lights Light"
CD
$12.00
Kaon (France)
oc98
"Born in 1936 and living in Berlin and Sweden, he combines archaic tone patterns and modern technical equipment in his compositional work. His performances take their form though installation of sound objects in a given space, taking the specific architecture of the room into consideration. 'Sound is experienced as a synthesis of emotion and intuition, of mechanical and digital sound tools. The process to create an artwork is like to give birth to a child, fertilize the brain, work out ideas, realize the subject and finally manage the artifact - a process from irrationality to reality, less from knowledge to product.' Studio and live pieces: 'Anatomy of Melancholy' rec. June 1998 - studio recording - voice, poetry Shawn Caton; 'Great Is Theseus' remix of a bootleg rec. 1997, studio recording; 'Shot Talk' from a sound installation & solo act on Earshot festival, Newcastle, Great Britain, rec. 1990 live; 'Spacial Lust of Hearings' an optosonic installation of 5 blowers and thus 50 pipes, the tuning of the overall acoustic sound is in 50 variations of the upper frequencies, rec. Oct 1996 live, 'Pink Machinery' rec. June 1998, studio recording, voice & poetry Shawn Caton; 'Didge Blues' the sound source is a stiff hose 1 meter long, when blown, the aural impression resembles that of didgeridoo, studio recording, 'Fra Det Skjulte 4.3' from the hidden air rec from solo sound acts on/in an iron oil vessel filled in the bottom with water, sited at a Norwegian harbor, hidden in the rocks in a huge invisible cave and originating from the German occupation, rec. 1987, live." - label description. "Co Caspar might be one of those names you come across, but you never to seem to place right. Despite his age (born in 1936), he has released so far one CD (by Tesco) and now Kaon from France releases his second CD. I had the pleasure to see one of his concerts in 1990 in Newcastle (and of which a small portion is on this CD), and I remember a full stage of pipes and machines. Caspar in the middle doing his 'thing': rumbling with the machines, feedback singing/chanting and feeding sounds through pipes. Quite an impressive sound for one man. This CD is kinda like a retrospective. The oldest piece is from 1987 up until this year [1998]. Much of the work deals with voice manipulations, either fully treated (such as the live excerpt from 1990 or 'Spacial Lust Of Hearing'), or clearly spoken poetry by Shawn Caton. Some of these pieces have a religious undertone, like the processed Gregorian choirs on 'Great Is Theseus' or 'Pink Machinary'. Caspar is at his best when he mixes his sound installations with live elements and electronica. This is on pieces as the aforementioned 'Spacial Lust Of Hearing' or 'Fra Det Skjulte' (which was recorded in a Norwegian cave/bunker). Overall this is a nice presentation of the work of someone who is sadly ignored too much until now." - Frans de Waard in Vital Weekly 153

Thanasis Chondros & Alexandra Katsiani
"0+"
CD
$15.00
Edo (Greece)
E-03
"Former founding member of the experimental group Dimosioypalliliko Retire, Thanasis Chondros was born in Thessaloniki in 1953 and Alexandra Katsiani was born in Siatista in 1954. After meeting in 1973, they have been coordinating their 'behaviors' since 1974. By limiting their biographic note in the word 'behavior', they extend the perspective of their work which already embraces daily life. To this direction, they illustrated in 1988 'Gestures' - a month with various temporary art performances/exhibitions scattered throughout Thessaloniki. The recordings contained in this CD come from an act-in-developement, a route in time, with the title '51 Saturdays' (using paintings, designs, pictures, installations, action, sound, etc.) and the selection of the pieces and their duration was a difficult matter since they were part of the total project. Minimal piano-forms, vocalistic styles referring to Meredith Monk's works, and the final piece for solo accordion, in an abstract melodic form, interrupted by Dadaistic dialogues and daily sounds." - label description. hand numbered edition of 830 copies.

The Circle Trio
"Live at the Meridian"
CD
$12.00
Sparkling Beatnik Records (U.S.)
SBR0024
"The Circle Trio is a collective of three powerful women: Pauline Oliveros, one of the most important and influential figures in contemporary music; India Cooke, whose brilliant violin playing has graced numerous bands from Sun Ra's to Sinatra's; and Karolyn van Putten with her beautiful voice and frame drum playing deeply influenced from many years of studying drumming and healing music traditions." - from the liner notes. "The Circle Trio provides mesmerizing proof that great improvisation depends not only on virtuoso playing, but also on virtuoso listening: carefully, joyfully, soulfully, with your whole being…" - Fred Frith. out of print.

Jonathan Coleclough
"Period"
CD
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM 4 CD
An unlimited reissue of the out of print Anomalous Records LP (released last year in an edition of 530 copies only) with new cover artwork. This reissue sees the original A side extended from the original length of 17 minutes to the new length of 50 minutes. It still includes Colin Potter's 17 minute remix "Periodic" which was featured on the B side of the LP. "Period" is beautiful piece based entirely on sounds from a Bluthner grand piano, looped and extended into long, drifting, calm drones with occasional punctuation of recognizable notes slowly resonating. The piece becomes "Periodic" at the hands of Colin Potter, whose remix turns it into a more dark and haunting experience which reveals even less of the characteristics of a piano than the original. Two complimenting, yet also contrasting, views of the same material which both show a great deal of depth and cohesion. All wrapped in a full color cover designed by Jonathan and featuring his photographs. "Like many of my pieces of music, the finished version of 'Period' is very different from the idea in my mind which I started out with. The idea acts as a seed and the piece grows, often in unexpected ways, from that seed. So I was extremely pleased when I heard Colin's remix of the piece, because he had transformed the piece into something much more like my initial idea. He had returned the piece full circle." - Jonathan.

Comma
"(voices)"
CD
$10.00
Metatron Press (U.S.)
MPCD101
the vocal trio of Joseph Zitt, Thomas Bickley, and Matthew Ross Davis performing original compositions plus "Approaches and Departures" by Pauline Oliveros and "Song Books" by John Cage. serious music with a sense of humor.

Crawling With Tarts
"I Am Telephoning A Star"
CD
$12.00
ASP (U.S.)
ASP 31
"Contains 15 tracks ranging from a few seconds to several minutes in length. There are a variety of different types of pieces: percussion, turntable, electronic, text-based, motor-and-styrofoam, and others, all of an 'experimental', or grainy, nature. In some ways it represents a condensation and simplification of several styles used in our previous recordings. Edition 967." - Michael Gendreau.

Crawling With Tarts
"Sarajevo Center Metal Doors"
CD
$12.00
Realization (U.S.)
RZD-019
"The three compositions on this CD, though quite dissimilar in sound and form, are united in the pursuit of musicality with non-instruments (and in one case, extended use of traditional instruments). 1-8 'Ideomotors' (19:52) is arranged in strict form for 24 found objects, each used to produce one tiny (but distinct) noise. Formally, 'Motors' (9:13) is derived in performance using a deck of cards. The sound sources are small AC motors, the shafts of which are turned against various metals and taught strings. And finally, 'Sarajevo Center Metal Doors' (36:58) is written for a quartet of non-specific instrumentation. A particular sense of background/foreground is explored, (mis)using violin, bass trombone, and lots of uncommon percussion instruments." - Michael Gendreau

Cremaster
"23 November 2002"
3" CD
$9.00
sound 323 (England)
sound 323 [3]
third disc in the series of live in store recordings from Sound 323 (the first two were by Derek Bailey / Simon Fell and Keith Rowe, and the next was Sakada [Mattin & Eddie Prevost] and Akio Suzuki & David Toop). "Both Alfredo Costa Monteiro [objects on electric guitar] and Ferran Fages [feedback mixing board] come from the Barcelona improvisation scene and are active members of the collective IBA. The common interest expressed by the two musicians to research noise, made possible a collaboration between the two. At that point, the work on each instrument was progressively being more focused on the source of sound production, therefore rejecting, more than adding, other sound possibilities. In this context, the result is a balance between noise (understood as an addition of information) and the intention of extracting from this addition unities of information in order to be able to work on them together. Their approximation to sound is direct, almost physical, avoiding formal resources quite common in electronic music, such as effects, loops or pre-recorded material. In this way, the formal investigations that each of the musicians have developed on his instrument, creating possibilities where sound sources become unrecognizable, is what defines the global sound of the duo." - label description.

Dachise
"Twin Braids"
CD
$15.00
Assemblage Point (Scotland)
ASP001CD
a 1999 reissue of the limited edition 1998 cassette by Paul D. Knowles, now working under the name The Digitariat. Dachise also had several releases on the Tochnit Aleph label. the six tracks are noisy loop based pieces. limited edition of 500 copies, sold out from the label.

Werner Dafeldecker & Boris D Hegenbart
"Eis 9"
CD
$14.00
Grob (Germany)
GROB.319
"Two years ago, the German pop music magazine Spex (a bit like Option in German) called the Viennese Werner Dafeldecker 'a Jim O'Rourke from the Alps.' The comparison strikes one as quite distorted but is based on a few things in common. Both represent an extended idea of improvisation that does not rest upon parameters like 'interaction', 'dynamics', or 'energy', but rather that appears airy, looser, more comprehensive: (sound in) space becomes more important, the occasion plays a bigger (more existential) role in the foreground. Indeed this occasion is not only another situation to improvise together, but rather an expression of a state that one should adjust his/her sensors completely anew. The influence of new music (the New York School and beyond) never seems apparent, but as it were, subcutaneously. Just like the improvisations of O'Rourke in the 90's, Dafeldecker's music is characterized by the logical but constantly surprising intervention that breaks the peaceful current of the music and continues it at the same time. 'Eis-9' [Ice Cream 9] is a summer record, no hermetic structures, no gloomy sounds, no wallowing in stagnation and hardening (= cold). Ice cream melts. Dafeldecker demonstrates here once more how he dissociates his strict instrumentalism (dealing with the instrument as essential sound material) from his original instrument, the contrabass, and transfers it to others: guitar, percussion, found objects, PowerBook. Just as gropingly as definite. 'Eis-9' is above all the product of an intensive cooperation with the Berlin/Viennese electronic musician Boris D. Hegenbart. Coming out of nowhere, he published the CD 'Hikuito' in 1998, music developed in hand made paper that came to fragile melodies once peeling away its (apparent) influences (Carl Stone, Oval). The groping and the definite flowed into the 'Eis-9' cooperation. Improvised music as symbiosis, as something that does not only come into being in the instant, but rather that grows. 'Eis-9' also means 'ice cream' is not an unambiguous fixed construction, but one that dissolves in various forms, structures, and, well, states." - label description.

Laurent Dailleau
"Supersternal Notch"
CD
$12.00
Sonoris (France)
SON-43
"'Supersternal Notch' mixes a rehash of extracts from live solo performances and studio work. Mostly performed on theremin and analogue synth (including a cameo by guitarist Dominique Répécaud), the music is quiet but tense. Live electronics music between the works of some pioneers and modern digital music. Laurent Dailleau is a founding member of Triolid and Le Complexe de la Viande. He also performs regularly with Helmut Shäfer, Atau Tanaka, and occasionally guests on Etage 34’s concerts." - label description.

Rhodri Davies
"Trem"
CD
$16.00
Confront (England)
confront 11
"Rhodri Davies: harp, preperations - recorded London 2001. 'Trem' documents the continuing development of Rhodri's uniquely innovative solo voice on the harp. The CD was recorded live during 2001 at All Angels, the series of London based concerts he co-ran with Mark Wastell. Rhodri's extended prepared harp techniques are rewriting the history of the instrument. Influenced by live electronics, music-concrete and electronica he explores noise, silence, texture and abstract sound on his acoustic instrument." - label description. gorgeous stuff.

Andrew Deutsch
"Lung Cleaner"
CD
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM24
"I created Lung Cleaner for Eric Lanzillotta when he was sick with a serious lung infection which lasted for months. I hoped to help him recover by imagining a 'sonic cure', an 'art pill'. The work continued after his illness and the notion of using metaphor as a compositional starting point has, at this time, formed the basis for all my sonic research and composition. Some other points of departure: digital structuralism, modular systemic processing, solitary parameter based interactive performance, image drones, contextual music, glaze/kiln music, analog/digital hybrids, granular synthesis, headphones, time grafting, modular synthesis, micro tonal clusters, moment clusters, destructive improvisational editing, rate of change patterns, logarithmic processing, filters, time sweeps, restricted randomization patterns, Iannis Xenakis, Merzbow, John Cage, and Gyorgy Ligeti. source materials included: wine glasses, baby toys, pure tones, bells, music boxes, gears, water, etc... track 2: 'Dizzy From the Cold Meds' contains samples of 3 unpublished early electronic works by Pauline Oliveros dating from around 1966." - Andrew Deutsch, 6/29/03.

Jacques Diennet
"Aubracs"
CD
$13.00
GMEM (France)
AL03
music for percussion, digital synthesizer and magnetic tape. two parts of a diptych of interior landscapes. awakening harmonies and undulating melodies, its clefts and crags. long sequences, the drawing out of sound, is the principle of confrontation between blunt almost harsh tone of the percussion and the more sophisticated instruments of digital technology. features Gérard Siracusa on percussion. released in 1987.

Thomas Dimuzio
"Markoff Process"
CD
$12.00
RRRecords (U.S.)
RRR-CD-15
a heavy fog of ambient noises. "'Markoff Process' features a series of concerts performed and recorded by Thomas Dimuzio during 1990 and 1991. All titles were improvised live using an interactive system of digital samplers and sound processors with realtime control - no sequencers or backing tapes were employed. Thomas Dimuzio plays digital samplers, audio processors, and MIDI Remote Controller (add analog synthesizer on 'Raohst'). David Prescott plays tapes and audio processors on 'Travelog'. 'Markoff Process' is a compilation of the following previously released cassette recordings: 'Lightswitch' (Gench, 1990); 'Songs Songs' (Realization Recordings, 1990); 'Remote' (1 Zer0), 1991)." - from the liner notes.

Dislocation
"Carve Another Notch"
CD
$16.00
Scatter (Scotland)
SCATTER 01:CD
free improvised noise from Japan featuring Fujio Kimura (electric strings), Yoshinori Yanagawa (saxophones), Toyohiro Okazaki (electronics), and Keishi Kiyokawa (intermixed action and video). the first release from this Scottish label that went on to release work by Derek Bailey and Lol Coxhill, among others.

Michel Doneda, Urs Leimgruber & Keith Rowe
"The Difference Between A Fish"
CD
$17.00
Potlatch (France)
P 302
Michel Doneda: soprano saxophone; Urs Leimgruber: tenor & soprano saxophones; Keith Rowe: guitar & electronics. "Two long tracks comprise 'The Difference Between A Fish', an oddly balanced album of saxophones - Doneda on soprano, Leimgruber playing tenor and soprano - and guitar electronics, by Rowe. A fifteen-month gap separates the recording of the 'The First Part' from 'The Third Part' but the music could just as easily be two bubbles blown from the same fish on the same breathful of water. Building up tension slowly through persistent, slight shifts of contour and color, the trio manages to hold our attention without actually gratifying it. It's like blowing a magnificently growing bubble with enough surface tension to repel a whale; it may be hollow inside, but we'll never know because it doesn't break. These two improvisations invite us to glimpse a world of decelerated morphing, where the state of being is a state of foaming pressure. Without a climax or momentous change of direction to overtly alert our attention to sonic developments, 'The Difference Between A Fish' depends on the listener's own ability to concentrate on the music, and on a willingness to be surrounded by sound, however unappealing." - Andrew Choate in Coda, January 2004.

Costis Drygianakis
"Post -Optical Landscapes"
CD
$15.00
Edo (Greece)
E-02
amazingly rich compositions drawing from source recordings he made between 1976 and 1998 with various voices and acoustic instruments which have transformed in a delightful symphony of sounds. "Costis Drygianakis was born in Volos, Greece, in 1965. He graduated in Physics at the University of Thessaloniki. Since 1985, he has been involved systematically with the use of modern technology in music. His works as a composer include two albums with the group Optical Musics (1987 and 1994) as well as music for theatre and documentaries. He was a member in the group Graffiti in Larissa (1990-1995),and, in Ross Daly's group for one year. The music of Costis Drygianakis belongs to the genre of musique concrète, avoiding generally the dogmatic limitations. Frequently using unorthodox relationships of composition - performance - recomposition, it utilizes and tames randomness and improvisation, finding balances between ambiance and surprise, referring, but not coinciding and searching, but never abandoning its sentimental space." - label description. limited edition of 850 copies.

Tore Elgarøy
"The Sound of the Sun"
CD
$11.00
Rune Grammofon (Norway)
RCD 2017
solo guitar from member of Fra Lippo Lippi. "In our estimate the most personal and inventive Norwegian guitarist since Terje Rypdal. Tore Elgarøy's career soared to great heights when he appeared on Lee Claytons comeback album and Europe tour in 88, and completely stole the show with the sheer brilliance of his playing. After this he mysteriously withdrew from the music scene, but started writing and recording some years ago, with a completely new approach. 'The Sound of The Sun' is a mix of solo guitar pieces and improvised sound abstractions, all deeply personal, intense and unlike any 'guitar' records we've heard." - label description. Digipak.

Francis Faber
"Ecce Femina"
3" CD
$10.00
La Grande Fabrique (France)
LGF 002
texts by J.-P. Faye (read by Francis Facon) set to electroacoustic sound collage and cello (played by Laurence Allalah). very dramatic and powerful. packaged in gatefold sleeve.

Faust
CD
$23.00
Polydor (Japan)
POCP 2404
Faust burst onto the 'Krautrock' scene in 1971 with this debut LP originally pressed on clear vinyl with a clear sleeve with only an x-ray image of a fist (which is 'faust' in German). the group had been groomed by music journalist Uwe Nettelbeck to be the next big thing selling the idea to Polydor in a big way. the major label actually put the 6 piece band up in the German countryside with their own living quarters and record studio, as well as the engineer Kurt Graupner. able to play and record whenever the mood struck them, they developed a unique style and sound helped a great deal by Graupner who was not only able to record the band, but also build custom 'black box' effects to the group member's specifications. reportedly recorded in a very short time to meet the record label's demand for some product to show for their investment, this album is at once very relaxed yet also finely worked out in detail. beginning with radio static catching snatches of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones (Xhol recorded a similar beginning to their album a year earlier, but it would not be released for another year after the Faust debut), Faust launched into a mixture of classical instrumentation, wild tape effects, searing electric guitar, Dada lyrics, and propulsive rhythms. absolutely befuddling their record label (who gave them a chance with a second LP and then traded them to Virgin), the three long tracks "Why Don't You Eat Carrots", "Meadow Meal" and "Miss Fortune" in time worked their way into the consciousness of some blown heads as they had created simply some of the best experimental rock music ever. more so than their contemporaries, Faust stuck with opening up the field of rock music. they didn't go soft like Guru Guru, Amon Düül II, Can, and countless others. they stayed weird and did it amazingly well. thanks to Chris Cutler of Henry Cow and Recommended Records, the music of Faust was kept in print (more or less) over the years. however, Faust's first efforts never made it onto CD until this Japanese issue from 1995 as part of their German Rock Collection. packaged in a jewel case with the artwork printed on white paper (instead of clear...), this edition honestly comes off a little better visual than the CD included in the otherwise wonderful "Wümme Years" box set.

Gino Favotti
"Electric Forest"
CD
$13.00
Motus (France)
M398001
a collaboration between the elder (acousmatic composer) and younger (school boys interested in techno) resulting in a cross between the genres. an evocation of a futuristic forest utilizing treated sounds from the Barthelemy bronze foundry and the forest of Saou. 24 minutes.

Fibrillation
"My Axis is Undone"
3" CD
$8.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM22
"Holding a deep love of refraction in all things, luminescence at night, of childhood memories blurring with time..taking on their own significance through abstraction. Becoming aware of the animistic nature of the landscape via dissociative episodes, paranoia mutating into awareness. A series of dreams etching strong images deep into the mind long after waking, floating in dark blue water while looking at a glowing gold sky. The feeling of absolute *now* during an electrical storm. Using kirlian photography as postcards to communicate the vividness of a new space. All these things and more.." This collection of six pieces is the first official release by Fibrillation, following his appearance on the Anomalous Records compilation LP "Electrically Induced Vibrations". Constructed with great care, these will reveal many layers over repeated listening. Though he works largely in the realms of electronic music, no source is considered outside of his realm, and in fact many fragments of sound important to his life are incorporated in the complex weave of aural communication. Fibrillation aims to create a sound compliment to mental images and evoke important personal experiences. Each sound is in the place where it belongs to create the desired whole. So while initially, one may be taken in by the beautiful swell of warm harmonic drone that opens the disc, you will eventually find that below the surface there lies much more. Packaged in mini-DVD case with full color cover and insert.

Flying Sweety Dog
"The Complete Dog"
CDR
$7.00
Butterflied Lamb Records (England)
LAM-001
"Duo consisting of Anders Arentoft (The Bohman Brothers Extended Family, Tape Salad and more) and Nishide Takehiro (Noise Flamenco and more). Two boys get together in a tiny room, get out all their toys and start playing. Mainly with their backs turned to each other, they speak the same language, for approximately one hour. As they work themselves up eventually they start throwing things around and slapping each other a bit. This is the sound of cavemen in the time of electricity. Has been described as being 'more extreme than Slayer' and as sounding like 'the internal trauma of a cow giving birth' by two friends of the two. The edition is limited to 154 copies. Handmade collage covers, each one completely different." - label description. in other words, it's very wacky, or is that wacked, and over the edge. extreme enough to stand out from the crowd, these two guys take this out there.

Henry Flynt
"New American Ethnic Music Volume 3: Hillbilly Tape Music"
CD
$13.00
Recorded (U.S.)
Recorded 007
"The third release in Recorded's groundbreaking archival series on the mind-blowing music of Henry Flynt, inventor of virtuosic electronic hillbilly music and other highly developed and idiosynractic genres. This record deals with Flynt's most 'electronic' work to date, but the modern-experimental aspects of Flynt's work are, as always, in the service of deeply rooted ecstatic hillbilly sensibility. Opens with the startling 'Violin Strobe' and contains pieces which verge on kryptonite rockabilly and tranced-out shades of Bo Didley. As usual, all completely essential, recently unearthed breathtaking music from one of the most original and driven musical minds of the century." - label description. the pieces on here date from 1971 to 1978, though one was redone in 2001.

Ellen Fullman
"Staggered Stasis"
CD
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM29
Over the last two decades, Ellen Fullman has been perfecting her Long String Instrument. This unique instrument of her own design is some 80 feet in length and played by literally walking through it. The resulting sounds are beautiful gliding tones with a rich harmonic content. The CD presents two works from her time in Austin, Texas in the late 1980's which beautifully display a sound you can get inside of. These long tracks envelope you in their cascading overtones. Even though she has performed widely in the United States and Europe, this is only Ellen's third solo CD, following previous releases on XI Records and New Albion. So hearing these gorgeous and important pieces from her archive is cause for celebration.

Beat Furrer
"Nuun • Presto con Fuoco • Still • Poemas"
CD
$13.00
Kairos (Austria)
KAI 1206
"In his early works, Beat Furrer has heavily influenced by Nono and Boulez. Furrer has since developed his own voice, but the complete break with standard forms of both composers, and the Gallic fastidiousness of Boulez can still be heard in the works presented here. 'Nuun' is named after the God in Breton mythology who had the power to let time stand still. Scored for two pianos and orchestra, there is plenty of noise going on, but the sounds all seem to be static in time. 'Presto con Fuoco', for flute and piano, begins quietly. Soon the music accelerates rapidly, coming to a glacial halt at the end. 'Still' is most interesting for its extreme contrasts between silence and bursts of noise. 'Poemas', scored for mezzo, guitar, piano and marimba, combines the elements of rapid movement and static contemplation. Text is by Pablo Neruda." - label description. performed by Klangforum Wien with conductors Peter Eötvös and Sylvain Cambreling and soloists Marino Formenti, Florian Müller, Eva Furrer, and Elizabeth Laurence.

Furt
"Defekt"
CD
$16.00
Matchless Recordings (England)
MRCD50
what appears to be the third CD by the electronics duo of Richard Barrett and Paul Obermayer who work in the field of improvisation while paying homage to great European composers (on this disc, dedications are made to Konrad Boehmer and Karlheinz Stockhausen and on one track they start from Schubert's "Winterreise"). the results are a unique blend of sampled orchestral work and free electronics. "(1) Plint was intended as a sixtieth birthday present for Konrad Boehmer, and is a studio piece derived entirely from piano-duo improvisations by FURT recorded in Berlin in December 2001. (2) Gute Nacht was originally the first part of the performance Failed Experiment, given at the ICA in London in November 1997 by FURT together with vocalist Ute Wassermann and cellist Friedrich Gauwerky, and using seven songs from Schubert's Winterreise as its point of departure. This opening, however, involves no "live" activity apart from a single vocal event. It was produced at Walter Fabeck's studio in Watford, October 1997.(3) Volksmusik was produced in Amsterdam for a performance in the Sammlung Essl (in Klosterneuburg, near Vienna) as part of the November 2000 Wien Modern festival. The ascendancy during that year of the fascist FPÖ– and its leading demagogue, Jörg Haider, had prompted many musicians to cancel engagements in Austria in protest; our response was to assert our freedom to make "entartete Musik", while making a gesture of solidarity with the opposition movement by including an item whose political nature could not be mistaken. Volksmusik features the voice of Charlie Chaplin. (4) Ultimtaum was performed live several times during 1999 and 2000. This final recording is of a slightly edited studio performance made in Amsterdam on 29 February 2000. It is the third part of a tetralogy entitled Out of Time (itself extracted from the longer, incomplete Day and Night cycles), which begins with Johannes- Passion (1993), continues with Angel (1995, released on CD by JdK Productions) and concludes with problem (2001). Ultimatum is dedicated to Karlheinz Stockhausen." - from the liner notes

Fuzzybunny
CD
$12.00
Sonore (France)
SON-014
"American electronic improvisers ensemble that features three of the most energetic hackers in computer-sound research and innovation for more than two decades: Tim Perkis, Scot Gresham-Lancaster and Chris Brown. With their own interactive software, each musicians retains his autonomy but can also decide to intervene and influence the others. Fuzzybunny music is very surprising, aleatoric and full of irony." - label description.

gcttcatt
"AmpErase"
CD
$14.00
Mego (Austria)
MEGO021
"gcttcatt is a duo comprising of: Martin Ng (Grob, Staubgold - Turntables + DJ tools) and Mathias Gmachl (farmersmanual, Skot, Fuckhead - real time data processing). gcttcatt reference many tactics familiar to the 'movement' seekers of this overly documented world. We can see the headlines now! - 'turntablism dsp', 'hyperkinetic hands on beat boy meets doppler shredding maker' or maybe 'crab scratch tackles electroacoustic evidence in cross continent battle blitz!' Regardless of potential pockets it's in the outer where gcttcatt reside. Taking time to spit fury, often enveloped split-axe like (inside a realm channeled through Shaeffer, Xenakis, Marclay, Q-bert and the like). This disorienting duo practice an extreme exploration of their chosen tools. What becomes of such activities when they fold into one united, albeit fractured mass, is what makes this release so damn special! The relationship between machine + man is blurred on numerous counts via the symbiotic set up of 'live' turntablism meets 'real time' processing meets virtual turntablism - ( i.e.: the violent skips of Ng's restless stylus' morphs into splinters of feisty electroacoustics courtesy of Hiaz' acoustic modeling program). Taking an easy route one can cite: inward / outward turntable-acoustics (think cells, thick cells, thin cells), virtual equipment - midnight dual with land and hand battle tactics, detached syntax - yards of shards, hyperkinetic improvisation, schizophrenic mechanical duality, fuzzy robotics, & aching turns: fluctuate, vary, waver, flounder, flicker, flitter, flit, flutter, shift, shuffle, shake, totter, tremble, vacillate, wamble, turn and turn about, ring the changes; sway to and fro, change and change about. The Visual component 'u r the sony of my life' is a total audio-visual recombination. Entirely generated from real time digital rearticulation of vinyl manipulation. The 'DJ' footage is taken and 'scratched' live to produce a hyperreal synchronization with the live music." - label description. with guest appearances by Oren Ambarchi and Joe Linschinger. Digipak.

Janice Giteck
"Breathing Songs from a Turning Sky"
CD
$14.00
Mode Records (U.S.)
mode 14
"First recordings of these works from Seattle-based composer Janice Giteck, supervised by the composer. Greatly influenced by Native American music, her compositions are in turn rhythmic and meditative, ritualistic and serene. Ms. Giteck's works strive to recapture the ancient musical attributes of ritual and trance, exploring ways in which music can be a truly healing experience. Giteck has studied with Olivier Messiaen and Darius Milhaud, with subsequent studies of Indonesian Gamelan music with Daniel Schmidt and percussion with the master drummer from Ghana, Obo Addy. Guest artists with the New Performance Group of the Cornish Institute (Seattle) include the popular Windham Hill recording artist Andy Narrell on steel-drummer and tenor John Duykers, who appeared as Chairman Mao in John Adams' 'Nixon in China'. Released 1988." - label description. other performers on this disc are Jane Lenoir (flute), William McColl (clarinet), Bruce Grainger (bassoon), Roger Nelson (piano), Walter Gray (cello), Matthew Kocmieroski (percussion), Jarrad Powell (percussion), Thomas Eckert (soprano), Jana Hawley (chanter), James Madara (chanter), Susan Seneft (chanter) and Deborah Deloria (string-bass). "'Callin' Home Coyote' reminds me of Harry Partch's good-humored eccentricities, without sounding in the least like watered-down Partch. The ten 'Breathing Songs from a Turning Sky' (there are no vocals) are purely delicious. 'Thunder, Like a White Bear Dancing' with instrumentalists and voices, achieves a dream-state, while Coyote, no less fantastic, indulges in jazzy hi-jinks." - Mike Silverton, Fanfare

Konstantin Gockel
"Die Stimme der Schlange"
CD
$14.00
Logos Public Domain (Belgium)
LPD 002
58 pieces for solo violin, 24 of which have digital processing by Guy De Bièvre. "By means of rhythmic in- or exhalation the snake produces threatening, noisy hisses. 'Die Stimme der Schlange' (the snake's voice) - a metaphorical title: In their ambivalence, qualities like good, evil, smart, sly, deadly, liberating, beautiful and inauspicious have always been characteristic traits of the snake in mythology and religion. With its rattle the rattlesnake produces a distantly audible warning. Suddenness and immediacy are characteristic of the '58 Songs'. They begin and end unpredictably and unexpectedly. They show no development. They are like fever dreams, taking place in a very brief, reduced real time. Their moods are manifold: ecstatic, manic, rigorous, exalted, deceitful, menacing and playful. Studies and masterclasses with Max Rostal, Igor Ozim, Hermann Zitzmann and Cecil Aronowitz. In addition to this he also studied philosophy. Grand Prix at the International Chamber Music Context of Colmar. Numerous radio and CD recordings, a.o. with Maria Bergmann and Eckart Seilheim. Concert tours in all European countries, in the USA, Canada, South-America and South Korea. More than 30 premieres at new music festivals. Many compositions were dedicated to him. His own oeuvre includes the cycle 'Fliehende Worte', which has been a work in progress since 1995." - from the liner notes.

Karel Goeyvaerts
"Litanies"
2 x CD
$35.00
Megadisc (Belgium)
MDC7872/73
"The five 'Litanies' were written between 1979 and 1982. In the course of that period, both the basic idea and the corresponding techniques evolved. Whereas 'Litanie 1' for piano was based upon the ancient repetitive form of pray - the word litany means prayer - the 1982 piece, 'Litanie 5' for harpsichord(s), consists of six harmonic regions, each of them including several sequences. Constant in the five 'Litanies' is the spell of undefinite rite. A similarity in style may be found in 'Litanies 1', '3' for orchestra, and '4' for voice, flute, clarinet violin, violoncello and piano. All three use the same principle of building up a music cell and dismantling it again. Several such processes may run together in an asymmetrical accumulation." - Karel Goeyvaerts. although released by Les Disques Du Crépuscule as a double LP in 1987, these are new recordings of all but "Litanie 3" which is the 1981 recording. performers include Kristina Van Damme, Champ d'Action, The BRT Philharmonic Orchestra, Lucas Vis, Alain Franco and Christine Wauters.

Laurent Grappe
"Le luxe de la réflexion !"
CD
$11.00
Metamkine / Sonoris (France)
MKCDYYY / SON-32
"This work is a 'sound being; and the result of my meeting with Isabelle Bassil. After several stays in Lebanon, and having experienced the country's permanent tension, we wanted to address the complexity of representation that communities develop towards their own language when facing domination from an outside culture. 'We have forgotten something, but to learn what has been forgotten, we need to access the suffering from those who haven't yet accessed to oblivion', says Philippe Vaernewyck in the last interlude of the work, and a fragment taken from one of our numerous discussions on the luxury of reflection. Through Isabelle's life, a Lebanese girl using Arabic speaking with all the distance of a foreigner's experience, we can recall the idea of a poetic phonography of intimacy with texts and culture. Behind each of Isabelle's choices (Khalil Gibran, Najib Mahafouz, or a popular tale like 'the heart of a mother' for instance), lies a portrait, a souvenir, an emotion, a claiming, an Arabic memory in any case. For each piece, we carefully positioned the microphones to create the situation that would allow the necessary gap to the reception of this expression. From a musical standpoint, we tried and built a sound dramaturgy to bring the listening on the course where the voice creates the movement. We hope to trigger off imagination, opening to a poetic interpretation of sense by overtly playing on the recognition of the sound sources that evoke both journeys and (y)our native language. Our music includes electro-acoustics and concrete aesthetics. We let sounds exist by themselves. The sounds and sequences were often played using our memory of our first stays there, adding an idealized perfume to it. 'Le luxe de la réflexion!' is an attempt in valuing the Arabic language, presented as an oral and written language, and beyond this, represent when languages are experienced as stigmata. We tell of people whom ghettoized native language involves insecurity. This piece was first conceived as a work for a tape and a comedienne, and was first shown on January 6 1996 at L'Embarcadère in Lyon, as part of the collective event 'comme un murmure' ('as a whisper'). It was then decided to use it as a training material (Inter Service Migrant) around this concept so 'Le luxe...' has been shown around 20 times in France. The acousmatic version has been created using high-end sound techniques to ease focus on the qualities of listening, and played in Le Festival d'Albi, Les 38èmes Rugissants, Futura, Le Festival. Inter. Musi. Impro. Libre in Beirut, Le 102, Les Instants Chavirés, Le Vandémiaire, Le nomade's land, Le Cirque clandestin des frères Kasamarof. This version is now a CD on Sonoris / Metamkine." - label description.

Guillermo Gregorio
"Degrees of Iconicity"
CD
$17.00
Hat Hut Records Ltd. (Switzerland)
hat(now)ART 134
10 avant-garde works performed by this Argentinean born composer with various friends from his new home of Chicago. "Much more directly than, for example, Webern, Feldman or Tristano, who have often been cited as influencing my work, I think that the most important elements acting on my music come from the visual arts - more specifically, from the so-called 'constructive' tendencies of 20th century art, namely, some varieties of Constructivism and Concrete Art." - Guillermo Gregorio. performed by Guillermo Gregorio (clarinet, alto saxophone, conductor), Carrie Biolo (vibraphone, marimba), Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello, cornet), Michael Cameron (acoustic bass), and Kent Kessler (acoustic bass). edition of 3000. packaged in a Digisleeve (a sort of card gatefold sleeve - no plastic) with extensive liner notes from the composer.

Randy Greif
"Verdi's Requiem"
CD
$12.00
Soleilmoon Recordings (U.S.)
SOL48CD
"Randy Greif is a composer and musician working in the field of electronics and sound manipulation. His work defies easy categorization because it straddles a number of different genres, including experimental, noise, ambient and even classical music. 'Verdi's Requiem' is not in any way a re-working of the 'Requiem' by the composer Verdi, but is meant simply as an abstract biography, without text but full of misinformation on the life of the great Italian composer. Various key events in the life of Verdi as concocted and imagined by Greif are interpreted musically. Greif admittedly has very little knowledge of Giuseppe Verdi's life or musical structures, and is basing all other imagined events around the only one he is aware-Verdi's alleged affair with the young Amadeus Mozart. While Randy Greif's earlier interpretation of 'Alice in Wonderland' squeezed the actual text into its darkest corner and added a suitably psychotic soundtrack, here he dispenses with all but the merest notion of the original and takes a mighty leap into the mind's abyss. It's interesting, fascinating, captivating and weird, all at once. Randy Greif has recorded with Static Effect, His Master's Voice, Stylus, and Dan Burke of Illusion of Safety. He is currently collaborating with Robin Storey of Rapoon and Nigel Ayers of Nocturnal Emissions. However, he has primarily worked as a solo artist. He is truly a child of the cassette underground, rising out of the depths of obscurity through sheer hard work, persistence and originality. His first cassette releases were issued on his own Swinging Axe label beginning in 1983. These early solo works were soon followed by releases of indigenous recordings he made in Papua New Guinea, Amazonia, and Thailand. Some of the material recorded in those locales were used as source materials for future Greif releases. Throughout the 80's and 90's he has had numerous LP and CD releases on various labels including Staalplaat, RRR, Complacency, Old Europa Cafe, Freedom In A Vacuum, and Swinging Axe. Among these releases were his 5-CD set 'Alice In Wonderland' released on the Staalplaat label serially over a 4 year period. Due out sometime next year will be a CD by Drift, of which Greif is founding member and which includes vocalist Anna Homler. There will also be some new solo material under the alias Shadowbug 4." - label description.

Ground-Zero
"Consume Red (Consume Ground-Zero Vol. 1)"
CD
$16.00
ReR Megacorp (England)
ReR GZ2
one massive 57 minute piece recorded in 1997 and consisting of a building cacophony of Korean jojok, drums, drones and noises. "First Volume of a three CD project. Ground Zero makes a monster structure that starts screaming and gets more and more intense and massive until you don't imagine there is anywhere else to go. Then it gets bigger. A classic." - label description. "Ground Zero samples the musical performance of a Korean national treasure, Kim Suk Chul. Any artistic purist should fly into a rage right there. His superhuman playing is without question a product of his own creativity, but it could also be that he is in fact a vessel for the voices of gods or ancestors. So Ground Zero takes and samples this brilliant music sacred enough to blow away any puny ideas about copyright. Then we will have this remixed by a number of unique sampling artists and place the two versions on a 'chopping board' of consumption and sampling. Call it public sampling if you will. It's up to you how you cook with it. Make it techno or enka or anything you like. What we want to see is not style or perfection but something beyond that (that is, if there is such a thing). The jumble of criticisms and questions that may emerge should outbalance today's definition of copyright together with its messy problems and questions of creativity. Go ahead and butcher this with your own hands. We can talk later." - Otomo Yoshihide. performers include Matsubara Sachiko (sampler), Otomo Yoshihide (turntables, guitar), Tanaka Yumiko (Futozao Shamisen), Uemura Masahiro (drums), Yoshigaki Yasuhiro (drums), Kikuchi Naruyoshi (soprano sax), Nasuno Mitsuru (electric bass), and Uchihashi Kazuhisa (electric guitar, effects).

Ground-Zero
"Revolutionary Pekinese Opera Ver.1.28"
CD
$16.00
ReR Megacorp (England)
ReR GZ1
"Otomo Yoshihide and frightening band deconstruct and rebuild the already sampled and reconstructed 'Peking Opera' of Heiner Goebbels and Alfred Harth. In conception, execution and in plain terms of aural excitement and intelligence, this is hard to beat. Stunning recording - with a drum sound to gasp at..." - label description. This work is based on a re-sampling of Heiner Goebbels and 23 Alfred Harth's sampled rendition of 1960's Revolutionary Pekinese Opera from China, the 'Peking Oper' (from the LP 'Frankfurt-Pekin') from 1984. Ver. 1.28 is a updated edition of the original version released from Trigram (Japan) in 1995." - from the liner notes. performers are Otomo Yoshihide [turntables, guitar], Uchihashi Kazuhisa [guitar & effects], Matsubara Sachiko [sampler, voice], Nasuno Mitsuro [bass], Uemura Masahiro [drums, enka keyboard], and Yoshigaki Yashuhiro [drums & percussion] with guest musicians DJ-Mao (samples), Nomoto Kazuhiro (bass clarinet), Aya (voice) and Kikuchi Naruyoshi (tenor sax). in addition the booklet lists the "sampled guests" Amaya Norimizu, Jon Rose, Alfred 23 Harth, Heiner Goebbels, original Pekinese opera groups, Hashimoto Osamu, Steve Beresford, Rudolf Ebner, Compostela, Tanaka Yumiko and Christian Marclay.

Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza
"1967-75"
CD
$15.00
Edition RZ (Germany)
ed. RZ 1009
"The improvisation group Nuova Consonanza was formed in 1964 at the initiative of Franco Evangelisti. The name was taken from the concert society Nuova Consonanza which was founded in Rome in 1961 and whose third festival, in the spring of 1965, featured the group's debut. The term 'nuova consonanza' first appeared in the preface to the 1600 anthology 'Le musiche di lacopo Peri'. It refers not to a new theory of harmony, but to an aesthetic agenda: to look beyond the boundaries always reaching for 'new correspondences'. The group was 'historically' comprised of the personnel documented in the present recording: Mario Bertoncini (percussion and piano), Walter Branchi (double-bass), Franco Evangelisti (piano), John Heineman (trombone and cello), Roland Kayn (Hammond organ, vibraphone and marimba), Egisto Macchi (percussion and celesta) and Ennio Morricone (trumpet). In 'Improvvisazione per cinque' and 'RKBA 1675/I', the group is joined by Frederic Rzewski (piano), in 'Eflot' and 'Soup', Giovanni Piazza (horn) and Jesus Villa Rojo (clarinet) also appear." - from the liner notes. includes tracks from their very rare RCA, General Music and Cinevox LPs, plus 3 previously unreleased archival tracks. Digipak with liner notes in English and German. highly recommended!

bernhard günter
"brown, blue, brown on blue (for Mark Rothko)"
CD
$15.00
trente oiseaux (Germany)
TOC001
diaphanous sound paintings. very calm and delicate. "I finished 'brown, blue, brown on blue (for Mark Rothko)' in mid-July 1999, and it picks up where 'slow gestures / cérémonie désir (for Heike)' left off (actually, the two pieces can be listened to as one large work in two parts...). this work is dedicated to my favorite painter, Mark Rothko, and the title is taken from one of his paintings that has accompanied me for a long time as print hanging beside my bed. I finally got a chance to see this painting in an exhibition of Rothko's works at the Musée de l'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 1999 and was more deeply touched by it than I can express in words. these strong feelings have found their way into the composition I began working on immediately after my visit at the museum - it is not intended to describe the painting itself, but rather the emotions it inspired. the itinerary the work takes is, in some respect, a reversed mirror image of the development of Rothko's painting during his life: where Rothko started his characteristic style with bright colors and ended in dark grays and blacks, I am starting with dark colors implying his tragic death to end in a kind of celebration of his greatness being recognized by so many people now, and the heritage of wonderful works he has left us." - b.g., October 1999 further, he says, "these are the liner notes, now for the less formal part: folks, honestly, this piece is a treat - even for myself! until now, I do not quite understand how I made it... :-) the silence is from japan, the rhythmic flow from India, the harmonic understanding from 20th century Europe, the formal devices are the consequences I have drawn from Morton Feldman, and the inspiration from Mark Rothko. this is the good side of globalization - new combinations of cultures are made possible...the piece also represents a new level of craftsmanship for me, in terms of handling a large compositional structure (at 770.0 dim - 38:30 min.- the longest piece I have ever composed), and of my 'savoir-faire' concerning the ways of using of my (further reduced) technical equipment... check it out!"

bernhard günter
"Details Agrandis"
CD
$17.00
Table of the Elements (U.S.)
34 Se
microscopic recordings and quiet motions of sound transformed into sonic paintings of abstract minimalism. skillful compositions of low volume noises. three pieces, one each dedicated to Jim O'Rourke, Richard Long, and Giancarlo Toniutti. 1998 reissue of the Selektion CD with new, more minimal (missing Toniutti's photographs!) cover. "'Details Agrandis' is the second CD by German composer bernhard günter, originally released in 1994. bordering on the imperceptible, it reveals a fascinating, microscopic universe of indescribable richness and subtlety." - label description. "it seems that after just two releases, bernhard günter may be considered one of the greatest composers of electro-acoustic music, alongside the Ferrari of 'Presque Rien', the Parmegiani of 'De Natura Sonorum', and Pierre Henry… radical and pertinent at every level… a pure miracle…" - Revue et Corrigée.

bernhard günter
"Redshift / Abschied"
CD
$15.00
trente oiseaux (Germany)
TOC021
"I was forming the plans for a very different project in my mind when I came across a number of DAT tapes from my first sampling days in 1993, the time of 'Un peu de neige salie' - these tapes contained sounds I had not used in those days, and that I could not at all remember the origin/sources of, but that sounded interesting to my present day ears. I thus started to work with them, without the slightest idea of what might be the result, and the piece kind of made itself - the result was a structure consisting of noise sounds to which I added a complementary microtonal structure of instrumental samples to form the whole. It is difficult to describe the result, but I think it quite unique in the impression it gives - when listened to at low or medium volume (as it is supposed to be), the sounds seem to come from a far distance, and create shifting impressions of space. The associations of signals coming from far away, and transforming space it gave me led to the title 'Redshift', a term that describes a phenomenon discovered in the 1920's: the light of far distant galaxies is shifted to the red spectrum, and the farther away they are, the stronger the redshift is. This discovery can only be explained by a Doppler Effect implying that these galaxies are moving away from us, and that the universe is expanding. These associations are, of course, purely subjective - you do not have to imagine swarms of neutrinos, or radio signals from a quasar to enjoy the piece. : )." - bernhard günter, March 2001. "Redshift will be combined with Abschied on TOC021. As the two pieces are not related to each other, each has its own cover. Here are the liner notes for Abschied: I have composed ‘Abschied’ in memory of Erika Kedziora, my wife’s aunt, who passed away on July 28th, 2001, after a long illness, at age 70. She was a wonderful human being, friendly, and open-minded, always wishing me luck for my concerts, and success for my music. Heike and I were very shocked, and saddened to learn that she had finally lost the battle against her illness. May she rest in peace. We will remember her." - bernhard günter, August 2001.

Mats Gustafsson
"The Education of Lars Jerry"
CD
$14.00
Xeric (U.S.)
XER CD 100
"Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson is one of the most significant new faces in improvised music. Combining great sensitivity and attention to detail with boundless energy, Gustafsson works regularly with the upper echelon of European and American improvisers, including bassist Barry Guy, percussionist Paul Lovens and pianist Marilyn Crispell. 'The Education of Lars Jerry', which features Gustafsson on tenor and baritone saxes, French flageolet and 'fluteophone' (his own contraption combining alto sax mouthpiece and flute), is his second solo record, splendidly recorded by legendary producer Jim O'Rourke in the unique acoustic space of Chicago's Renaissance Society art gallery." - label description.

Mats Gustafsson & His All-Stars featuring John Corbett
"Sticky Tongues and Kitchen Knives"
CD
$14.00
Xeric (U.S.)
XER CD 101
rather insane free improv blending Gustafsson's horns and Corbett's fractured manipulation of recordings (on the first half) and electric guitar (on the second half). "Swedish saxophone chameleon Mats Gustafsson changes hue in two extraordinary sets of duets with American improviser and writer John Corbett. In round one, Corbett collages shards of vinyl and disc into a series of vivid, peculiar, haunting collages; Gustafsson deftly navigates the absurd audio jungle, directly engaging with sound beats or donning camouflage and disappearing into the veldt. The second round offers a suite of intense, interactive, freely improvised short takes featuring Gustafsson on baritone sax and fluteophone and Corbett on electric guitar."

Tom Hamilton, Mike Silverton & Al Margolis
"Analogue Smoque"
2 x CD
$17.00
Pogus Productions (U.S.)
P21029-2
"A truly surrealistic pillow of a text/sound work, 'Analogue Smoque' combines poet and La Folia honcho Mike Silverton’s epic poe(m) (with Mike recitating) and the sounds (both electronic and not) of Tom Hamilton and Al Margolis. Sounds combine and contrast, highlight and ignore, as Silverton's opus unfolds in all its glory. Mike Silverton will only say that 'At first blush, the alert listener detects a link between 'Analogue Smoque' and 'Madam Blavatsky'. The magi demur. Rather, they say, the text reveals its author's interest in cryptorchidistics, i.e., states of non-descent.' Tom Hamilton has composed and performed electronic music for over 30 years. Rather than addressing traditional modes of presentation and observation, Hamilton prefers to explore interaction and simultaneity as aspects of 'present-time listening' on both the performers' and listeners' parts. Al Margolis [If, Bwana] has been working with electronics/sounds since New Year's Day 1984. His work can best be described as 'sound finger-painting'." - label description. track titles include "A Rift in the Ceiling" and "Laundering Butt Floss".

Joseph Hammer
"Dynasty Suites"
CD
$11.00
Melon Expander (U.S.)
ME002
"Joseph has kept busy creating cerebral sounds in Los Angeles for over 20 years using the tape loop as his main voice. His first major project, Points of Friction (with Damian Bisciglia, Kenny Ryman and Tim Alexander) began in 1980 with the intention of creating a surreal transportational environment via unidentifiable sounds fused with abstract visual projections. In the mid 80's he worked with LAFMS alumni Rick Potts to form Dinosaurs With Horns. Equally as tweaked as P.O.F., but with a different busier feel. Almost a pop-song structure with a stumbling-down-the-stairs pace. This led to the formation of Solid Eye in the early 90's (Hammer, Potts, and Steve Thomsen), a much more ether-like, hallucinatory voyage which is still active today. 'Dynasty Suites' is Joseph's first solo release. In this he utilizes similar magnetic tape manipulation techniques as in Solid Eye, but it clearly has an instant composition feel as he is recording onto one tape loop in real time. Very organically cerebral, it takes many listens to realize just what the heck is going on here. Unfolding as if the listener was on a gravity-free balloon animal ride through a shape-shifting landscape. 'Dynasty Suites' pieces are 2 separate live performances recorded in 2001 over the airwaves of KLXU radio in Los Angeles. 51 minutes." - label description.

Sten Hanson
"Autobiography"
CD
$12.00
Firework Edition Records (Sweden)
FER 1034
pioneer of Swedish text-sound composition closely associated with Fylkingen and EMS, as a well as other sound poets such as Henri Chopin and Åke Hodell, Sten took time from May 1998 to October 2001 to set down his autobiography in sound. speaking in English, he narrates childhood events (Sten was born in 1936) which he mixes with wonderful electroacoustic sounds and interludes. quite an enjoyable piece, it is appended with "My Galloping Heart", an electroacoustic work based on ultrasonic recordings of his heart after a trip to the emergency room.

Roman Haubenstock-Ramati
"Concerto a Tre"
CD
$17.00
Hat Hut Records Ltd. (Switzerland)
hat(now)ART 114
"mobiles" and graphic scores by this underrecorded Polish born composer that passed away in 1994. "A fragile, transparent, fine network constitutes the vanishing point in Roman Haubenstock-Ramati’s creations. That is why his chamber music pieces do not merely result from daily compositional exercises, but are the virtual essence of his life’s work. This dynamically explosive, chamber musically delicate 'Concerto a Tre' in any case musicalizes at its most beautiful what Haubenstock-Ramati always had in mind as a social utopian dream - the free communicating of responsible individuals, whose independently articulated parts join together, despite their great variety, into a harmonically unified network." - Reinhard Kager. also includes "Streichtrio Nr. 1 / Ricercari" (1948/78), "Für Kandinsky" (1987), and "Streichtrio Nr. 2" (1985). performed by Ensemble Recherche with Melise Mellinger (violin), Barbara Mauer (viola), Lucas Fels (cello), Andrew Digby (trombone), Christian Dierstein (percussion), Klaus Steffes-Holländer (piano), Martin Fahlenbock (flute), Jacqualine Burk (oboe) and Uwe Möckel (clarinet). edition of 3000. Digisleeve.

Roman Haubenstock-Ramati
"Graphic Music"
CD
$17.00
Hat Hut Records Ltd. (Switzerland)
hat(now)ART 101
first recordings of the graphic scores "Kreise" (1972), "Batterie" (1969), "Décisions" (1959/61), and "Alone 1" (1965). "Are we improvising? Good question. I think not. These scores are a wealth of wonderful graphic images which beg to be heard. During the process of studying them, I found myself aligning sounds with images, performance gestures with graphic gestures, shapes (graphic) with shapes (musical) with shapes (physical). As Eberhard, Iven and I worked together, elements which could be attributed to the realm of improvisation became fixed at the macro level while remaining significantly less so at the micro level." - Jan Williams. performed by Eberhard Blum, Iven Hausmann, and Jan Williams. includes reproductions of three of these beautiful pieces (look under the disc for a pocket that contains a booklet). edition of 1500. Digisleeve.

Heinzpeter Helberger
"Musik"
CD
$10.00
London Hall (Austria)
docu 2
world premier recordings of pieces from 1960 - 1989. included are "Musik für Violine und Klavier", "Musik für Klavier", "Musik für Klarinette und Klavier", "Musik für Gitarre und Vibraphon", "Musik für Klavier und Sopran", and "Vater unser - für gem.Chor und Mezzosopran". contemplative and somber. "Heinzpeter Helberger is one of the most interesting personalities in the music-life of the Tyrol. His music is very much influenced by the simple life in sound harmony. Worldmusic from the countryside. Music of silence." performers are Peter Lefor, Heinzpeter Helberger, Andreas Helberger, Peter Rabl, Gunter Schneider, Andreas Achberger, Susanne Heyng, Tiroler Kammerchor Wörgl, Peter Gruber and Maria-Luise Erlacher.

Henry Cow
"Western Culture"
CD
$16.00
ReR Megacorp (England)
ReR HC4
reissue of their final LP originally self released in 1978. skillful, complex, instrumental (vocals on appear on one bonus track) Rock In Opposition with strong progressive and jazz influences performed by the quartet of Tim Hodkingson (organ, alto sax, clarinet, Hawaiian guitar), Lindsay Cooper (bassoon, oboe, soprano, soprano recorders), Fred Frith (electric and acoustic guitars, bass, banjo, soprano sax) and Chris Cutler (drums, electrified drums, noise, piano and trumpet) with guests Anne-Marie Roelofs (trombone and violin), Irene Schweizer (piano) and Georgie Born (bass). a unique ensemble that was name checked in the NWW list. "Next in the classic reissue series, remastered & repackaged with expansive notes and three extra tracks ('Viva Pa Ubu', 'Slice' and 'Look Back (alt)'. I'm biased of course but I believe this was a milestone recording, perhaps the closest we came to getting the music to sound the way we wanted on disc." - Chris Cutler. two of the bonus tracks were previously only available on the "Recommended Records Sampler" double LP released in 1982, the alternate version of "Look Back" seems to be exclusive to this CD reissue. 8-page booklet includes historical recollection by Cutler and many period photographs of the band.

Hans Werner Henze
"Drei Sinfonische Etüden"
CD
$18.00
Wergo (Germany)
WER 6637-2
includes "Drei Sinfonische Etüden" (1955/64), "Quattro Poemi" (1955), "Nachtstücke und Arien" (1957) and "La Selva Incantata" (1991). "The four orchestral compositions by Henze which are assembled on this CD combine works from the time of his third opera 'King Stag' of the middle of the 50's with e.g. 'La selva incantata', in which Henze refers directly to the that opera - an almost unique procedure in his list of works. A comprehensive interview in the booklet described the score of 'King Stag' marked with something like a very important 'attempt to free himself from the twelve-tone system,' the dogmatic chains of the Darmstadt School." - label description. performed by NDR-Sinfonieorchester conducted by Peter Ruzicka with guest soprano Michaela Kaune.

Felix Hess
"Air Pressure Fluctuations"
CD EP
$15.00
Edition RZ (Germany)
Ed. RZ 10014
"Here is a CD containing a recording of air pressure fluctuations. When played on ordinary audio equipment, the recorded air pressure fluctuations (technically named infrasound) are reproduced at 360 times the original speed, and thus can be perceived by our ears as sounds. This means that one second of sound on the CD reproduces six minutes of original time, and the four minutes on the CD correspond to one day-and-night. It also means that the audible frequency range between 18 Hz and 18000 Hz originally was between 0.05 Hz and 50 Hz. Almost everything to be heard on this CD was inaudible, literally unheard of, in real time, because it was too low for our ears. Our sense of direction in hearing depends on the small time differences between the arrivals of sounds in both ears. To obtain the correct time differences for a realistic stereo effect the microphones were placed 360 times as far apart as our ears are, at 64 meters. The CD accurately reproduces air pressure fluctuations which originally were in the range between 0.03 Hz and 56 Hz. What do they sound like now? One hears high-pitched whistles, beeps and insect like buzzes, which come from the deep rumblings of factories, trains and trucks and other motor cars, or even nearby washing machines. The opening and closing of doors gives rise to countless tiny clicks, which may add up to form a sound like soft rain on autumn leaves. The dawn of a new day, every four minutes on the CD, is marked by an upsurge of whistles and clicks: the world wakes up! Sonic booms of supersonic airplanes sound like thick paper being crumpled. The wind's turbulence causes localized pressure fluctuations, sometimes of overwhelming power; it seems fractal-like, and hardly sounds like stereo, left and right are nearly unrelated. Finally, depending on the weather situation at large, an extraordinary presence may appear: a humming sound or a rich, deep drone, audible like a multi-engined heavy airplane in the distance. This deep droning sound, at times all but inaudible, is formed by oscillations in the atmosphere - microbaroms - caused by standing water waves on the Atlantic Ocean, far away. After five days and nights the recording was prematurely terminated due to rain water seeping into a poorly taped microphone plug. This CD now lasts only just over 20 minutes, but I've chosen to present it because of the variations in the sounds of waves of the ocean. It was autumn. Imagine: everything you hear now was very very slow, very very wide." - Felix Hess. CD only edition limited to 250 copies.

Anders Hillborg
"Clang & Fury"
CD
$13.00
Phono Suecia Records (Sweden)
PSCD 52
Hillborg might be best known to experimental fans for his track "Rite of Passage" included on the Fylkingen LP "Stockholm Elektronmusikfestival 1982". this disc includes "Clang and Fury" (1985-89) for orchestra, "muocaaeyiywcoum" (1983/86) for choir, "Lamento" (1982) for clarinet and strings, "Celestial Mechanics" (1983-85) for 17 solo strings and percussion, and "Haut-Posaune" (1990) for trombone and tape. "muocaaeyiywcoum" is actually a phonetically spelled title difficult to reproduce here and is a gorgeous shimmering wordless choir piece similar to Philip Glass. "Celestial Mechanics" works with microtonal tunes and reminds me of Ligeti and Xenakis. the quite heterogeneous last track is really different from the other three. this 3 minute work mixes electroacoustic sounds with drum machine rhythms, sentimental organ and acrobatic trombone. quite a diverse disc. performers include The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen, The Eric Ericson Chamber Choir, Kari Kriikku, Osthrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Juha Kangas, The Stockholm Chamber Orchestra, and Christian Lindberg.

Hiss
"Zahir"
CD
$15.00
Rossbin (Spain)
RS011
January 2002 improvised music meeting of Pat Thomas (keyboard/electronics) Ivar Grydeland (electric guitar), Tonny Kluften (double bass) and Ingar Zach (percussion). "Grydeland, Kluften, Thomas and Zach demonstrate glaringly obvious, if unconventional musicianship on 'Zahir'. Even if the brusquest sounds heard on 'Zahir' stem from their precise articulation and their impeccable sense of timing, two skills that cross countless idiomatic - and non-idiomatic - boundaries. At their most shrill, Hiss' methods still serve music's highest purpose, one shared by such disparate types as Olivier Messiaen and Jimi Hendrix: the movement of the listener from his or her quotidian mindset to an excited, open state of consciousness. 'Zahir' - which, coincidentally, is Arabic for 'open' - gives credence to Susan Sontag's observation that 'all genuinely ultimate projects become projects for the unraveling of thought itself.' Hiss certainly leaves much of the current thinking about the state of improvised music in a heap." - from the liner notes by Bill Shoemaker.

Hubbub
"Hoop Whoop"
CD
$14.00
Matchless Recordings (England)
MRCD53
improvisations by Paris based ensemble by Hubbub: Frederic Blondy, Bertrand Denzler, Jean-Luc Guionnet, Jean-Sebastian Mariage and Edward Perraud. "Hubbub means 'clamor', 'commotion', 'confusion' but also 'agitation', 'excitement'. 'Sound and fury', but also culture fluid and brownian motion: a name with many echoes in sound, in physics, in biology and yet nobody's name. It is a sign. The horizon which was revealed by such an idea of improvisation (since the very beginning of AMM) is entirely open. By establishing new continuums in the functioning of the group and the flow of play, from within the music matter-but also from between its inside and its outside- this music calls forth new dispositions, new organic contiguities. 'Hoop, Whoop' is not a work, it is a process. The only relationship possible for us with this process is a vital and passionate experience which opens up to it. What follows is no longer ours." - from the liner notes.

John Hudak
"Sand Or Stars"
CD
$10.00
and/OAR (U.S.)
and/16
"Comparisons between the sand of the earth with the stars above are many, but comparisons of this release by American composer John Hudak with his previous work are far less to be found. The first piece of this CD mastered by John's friend and collaborator Stephan Mathieu (Sirr.ecords, Lucky Kitchen, Hapna, etc), is unlike much of John's previous work in that it features sharp staccato percussive sounds suddenly dodging in and out, but nevertheless it still has John's 'endless' compositional sense written into it. A subtle sense of humor seems to be inherent in the piece as well, as if some of the sounds hesitate with indecision as to whether or not they should make their presence known or perhaps they are trying to avoid colliding with some of the other sounds. And upon listening to this piece, be careful with volume settings at first listen, because the listener will quickly discover another aspect of this piece that is unlike much of John's previous work: sudden volume shifts. This seems to suggest that the sounds are also changeable in temperament as well! The second piece on this CD is perhaps the most meditative of the collection with its muted midrange buzzing that jumps around within the stereo spectrum, perhaps being reminiscent of musical radar signals or sonifications of normally inaudible activity occurring in a planet's magnetosphere, all the while maintaining a benevolent warmth throughout. And what could possibly be described as the amplification of rolling ion particle blasts being broadcast via shortwave radio, tells us that we have reached the third and final piece of this collection of what could be considered as being among John Hudak's finest works." - label description.

If, Bwana
"33 Birds Went"
CD
$11.00
Pogus Productions (U.S.)
P21007-2
a strange collection of sounds made by Al Margolis (electronics, tapes, etc.), Ellen Christi (vocals), Brian Charles (oboe, bass clarinet, soprano sax). Special guest appearances by Jane Scarpantoni (taped cello), and Kevin Sparke (percussion). "Five deep, spooky, lengthy tracks cleanly sewn together with samples, tapes, electronics, clarinets, cellos, saxes and voices. Many sounds collide here, but the mood remains low-key-occasionally becoming disorienting in some of the louder passages. Imagine an ambient music that is more organic than much of the strictly pre-fab, synthesized stuff fed to hungry consumers of that genre today, and you have the music of If, Bwana. Calming, but too demanding of the ears to be mere background noise." - The Subversive Workshop Newsletter #16

If, Bwana
"Tripping India"
CD
$11.00
Pogus Productions (U.S.)
P21013-2
"Consisting of 3 compositions, 'Tripping India' is the 3rd If, Bwana release on Pogus. On this recording If, Bwana is joined by, among others, Paul Marotta (Styrenes / Electric Eels / Mirrors) on '3 Out of 4 Ain't Bad', a conceptual work for 3 different pianists, playing 3 different pianos at 3 different times to the same tape. The final version is for 3 pianists, no tape. 'PR-DR' is an electroacoustic work for processed/manipulated percussion. The title piece combines audio 'snapshots' of a wandering through India with multiple tracks of manipulated and processed drums and percussion. The end result is an 'audio travelogue for 2 (highly) manipulated percussionists'." - label description.

Tetsu Inoue & Andrew Deutsch
"Field Tracker"
CD
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM 9
"'Field Tracker' was recorded at the Institute for Electronic Art, Alfred NY during the Winter of 2000. Inoue, utilizing his digital sound processing systems in combination with bells, guitar, and other odd sound making objects, constructed tiny improvisational sound moments each one having a shape and gesture of their own. These 'micro compositions' were at times highly abstract and noisy and at other times extremely melodic and calm. Many of these micro compositions were used in the production of his recent release 'Object and Organic Code', the others (almost 2 hours worth) were handed over to Andrew Deutsch who was to construct another release combining sounds of his own. Being responsible for the overall 'Auskomponierung' or 'compositional unfolding' of the work, Deutsch combined synthesized sounds, drones, chatter, loops and other DSP techniques to produce what he hoped would be a kind of 'Gebrauchsmusik' or 'useful music' that one might use in the home. The work has a notion of 'ambitendency' built into it, that is, the tendency toward change combined with an equal tendency toward stasis. The work could be described as 'meta-divisionism', 'Baroque Minimalism', or 'expanded systemic digital minimalism'. Sound works for our new recombinatory world." second pressing with black label.

Iolini
"Electroacoustic, Chamber Ensemble, Soundscapes & Works for Radio"
CD
$15.00
ReR Megacorp (England)
ReR RI
"Some will remember his two great small ensemble compositions from an earlier quarterly. This collection concentrates more on his (prize-winning) tape works and includes the great Hong Kong changeover cityscape 'In Between', extracts from works about Israeli whistleblower Mordecai Vanunu and Edwin Armstrong (inventor of FM modulation) as well as other radio works and three chamber pieces based on African rhythms. Enormous variety." - label description. features Steve Elphick (acoustic bass), Roger Dean (piano), Sandy Evans (soprano saxophone), Tony Wheeler (clarinet), Michele Morgan (vocals), Clive Birch (baritone vocals), Yolanda Podalski (soprano vocals), Jim Denley (flute, saxophone & flax), Philip Mar (saxophone, guitar, bass & violin) and Amanda Stewart (voice).

Vikki Jackman
"Of Beauty Reminiscing"
CD
$17.00
Faraway Press (U.K.)
FARAWAY09
Vikki (no relation to Organum's David Jackman) has been collaborating closely with Andrew Chalk in recent years, appearing on several of his releases, as well as one of the final Mirror CDRs. this is the first of her two solo albums and was very briefly available as a limited edition LP in 2006 in a tiny edition of 150 copies. this 2007 CD edition presents these fragile works in better fidelity. packaged in handmade mini-LP sleeve. note there has since been a 2009 edition with new cover artwork. the artwork on this edition is different from that of the original LP and the 2009 CD.

Arsenije Jovanovic
CD
$10.00
La Legende des Voix (France)
LDV008
"This CD presents four compositions spanning 15 years. What we hear in the first two works dating from 79 and 77 are sound improvisations in a certain acoustic setting. The first of the two consists mainly of improvised percussion and processing of metal plates in a cave, the second work also includes voice and sounds more like a composition. This latter one clearly breathes the atmosphere of Nono's vocal works but by processing the vocal material Jovanovic turns it into an electroacoustic composition. In the third work too, dated 1988, the atmosphere is black as night. Chaos, imminent disaster, is what this work communicates. This composition consists of a series of scenes thereby creating an acoustic theater. Drama, I would say, of the blackest sort. The last work, 'Ma Maison' (1993), is a construction of sound that J. recorded at his home. Apparently it is nearby a harbor. We hear seagulls, ship horns, wind, but also metallic feedback, breaths, wooden percussion. It is at once the most desolate and most peaceful of the quartet that is presented on this CD." - Ios Smolders in Vital .

Ernst Karel
Heard Laboratories
CD
$10.00
and/OAR (U.S.)
and/35
What a weird CD.... This is literally field recordings of a laboratory at Harvard University. Just the ambiance of lab machines quietly whirring away and the occasional voice giving instructions for a test routine. I think it is much better snapshot than Francisco López's "Buildings [New York]". But that was a composition and "Heard Laboratories" is more of a document. There are various MRIs, sterilizers, centrifuges, nitrogen tanks, a scanning electronic microscope and even some tamarin cages. But it is all edited together in one long flow. Pretty unique. Ernst used to live in Seattle a long time ago and play with Blowhole. This is the complete opposite of that! "'Heard Laboratories' is a sonic ethnography of scientific research environments at Harvard University, made using Schoeps cardioid mics in ORTF stereo configuration and a Sound Devices audio recorder. The sounds of equipment, devices, and activities draw attention to the physical processes underlying scientific research, the work underway which provides a ground for our highly technologized society. In the name of human progress, enormous resources are devoted to and consumed by such activities, which are both hidden and taken for granted. Heard Laboratories brings this background to the fore. Heard Laboratories is a largely abstract soundscape, consisting of edited sequences of unprocessed location recordings. The liner notes list edit points, along with descriptions of the research each laboratory is engaged in, so that the listener may follow along and know what kind of laboratory they are hearing at any given moment. The work does not take a position with respect to what is documented, and neither endorses nor criticizes the research programs of the laboratories which granted access." - label description

Edward Ka-Spel
"Lyvv China Doll"
CD
$14.00
Staalplaat (Netherlands)
STCD 060
"A bizarre venture through Edward's psyche showcased through an assortment of outtakes, sketches, and small pieces recorded over a 10-year period. This is quite possibly the most anomalistic CD he has ever released. The content of the few lyrical pieces here ranges from dejected and unsettling ('Dada') to disturbingly humorous ('Beautiful Plastic'). More familiar territory is briefly re-visited in the form of 'Tower 8', which is reminiscent of tracks from the classic Legendary Pink Dots releases 'The Tower' and 'Island of Jewels'. Several instrumental offerings serve up enough variety, aggressiveness and eccentricity to please every palate. The standout track is also the creepiest song Edward's ever recorded...a peculiar near-maniacal duet with Ignit entitled 'Lying In State'. When it comes right down to it, no one but Edward could have dabbled with such a bizarre cacophony of empirical noise and produced such a successful end result." - Lisa Amend.

Dave Knott
"Natura naturans"
CD
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOT 1
in 1997, Dave proposed an 'installation' in the then store and performance space incarnation of Anomalous Records. his proposal was to mount various discarded strings (not just from guitars, but other instruments) onto scrap board, and then mount those onto the wall above the entry staircase. the strings themselves were often permanently prepared, and with the wall itself (or the banister in the case one) acting as a resonator, they produced a surprising diversity of sounds, much beyond their simple appearance. many people trying them or hearing them played were surprised to hear tones like gongs and cymbals, along with others that sounded more like plunked instruments, albeit with a different bent. as they were in an unusual location that people didn't often use, the stringboards were free to stay up for longer than most things, and over the six months or so that they were up, Dave altered and added to them (sometimes using things like rocks from the parking lot, sticks, door knobs, etc.). plucked, strung and bowed by random visitors, they were used to full effect during Jeph Jerman's weekly improvisations with Aaron Wintersong, which Dave was soon a regular member of. being as they had become a part of the environment for so long (Dave even installed one in the bathroom in the end), we decided it would be wise to document them before Anomalous left the space, especially as Dave had decided to auction them off at the last show. so, Dave and I spent an afternoon close mic'ing (no contact mics here, these needed to sing through the air around them) each stringboard in succession. the playing varied much between very gentle playing letting the notes decay to cacophony of strings assaulted, though did seem to lean overall more towards the calmer side of things. through Dave remained aware of his surrounding, the environment for so many past performances, and actually played along with many ambient elements such as noises coming from the dry cleaner below and the sounds of the street outside, which you can hear on this disc if you listen very closely or turn it up very loud. the resulting 90 minutes we recorded lay for a while, but was in the end painstakingly listened and re-listened to by Dave and edited down to this CD. in the listening back, Dave made many mental notes and associations with all the sounds, which we preserved by marking several tracks with many index points (a feature very few CDs seem to use) and giving each of those a title. the package is completed by liner notes from Jeph Jerman and Dave, photos of the stringboards, and a beautiful full color painting made for the project by Russell W. Gordon.

Jo Kondo
"Chamber Music"
CD
$17.00
Hat Hut Records Ltd. (Switzerland)
hat(now)ART 110
includes "Walk" (1976), "An Elder's Hocket" (1979), "Pendulums" (1990), "Aquarelle" (1990), "Winsen Dance Step" (1995), "Duo" (1982), "Words" (1986) and "An Insular Style" (1980) - four of which are first recordings. "Each sound must have its own entity and life. What I am doing in my compositions is to create a web of intertonal relationships, while trying to safeguard the possibility of aurally perceiving the individual entity and life of every single tone in that relationship." - Jo Kondo. performed by Ensemble L'art Pour L'art: Matthias Kaul (percussion), Hartmut Leistritz (piano), Nele B. Nelle (clarinet), Eva Pressl (harp), Astrid Schmeling (flute), and Michael Schröder (guitar and conducting). edition of 3000. packaged in gatefold card sleeve.

Jo Kondo
"Works for Piano"
CD
$17.00
Hat Hut Records Ltd. (Switzerland)
hat(now)ART 135
Japanese composer Jo Kondo has had several works released on various LPs by the legendary ALM label in Japan and was included in Aki Takahashi's wonderful "Piano Space" set. "The nine pieces on this CD are all that I have written so far for solo piano. Until this recording project was proposed to me, I had been unaware of having written so many pieces for solo piano, enough to fill a whole CD. Although the piano is one of my favorite instruments, which I use almost constantly in my chamber works, I never thought the solo piano could become a major medium for my music. In fact, composition for any solo instrument has not interested me too much, probably because of my proclivity to write music for instrumental ensembles, where interrelationships among the parts (or the members of the ensemble) play a crucial role. This may somehow explain the fact that the first two pieces on this CD, 'Sight Rhythmics' and 'Walk', were not originally written for solo piano." - Jo Kondo. edition of 3000. performed by Satoko Inoue. packaged in gatefold card sleeve.

Patrick Kosk / Jarmo Sermilä / Otto Romanowski
"Other Reflections"
CD
$12.00
Jasemusiikki (Finland)
Jase CD 0022
fluid electroacoustic works from Finland published in 1994. "The composers on this record have all worked within this type of music since the beginning of the 1970's. Among them, Patrick Kosk is a pure specialist in the field, perhaps the only full-time composer of electro-acoustic music in Finland. In Otto Romanowski's production there are also pieces that include one of the traditional instruments beside the electronic sound. Besides composing, Romanowski has also worked as a pedagogue and developer of studio environments - even computer graphics is no unknown to him. Among the trio, Jarmo Sermilä is the most traditional type of composer, whose production only for a small part touches on electro-acoustic music, and even then it usually includes conventional instruments of music. Sermilä is also, among other things, a festival manager and publisher of music." - from the liner notes. Kosk was featured on Edition RZ 3004.

Kristoff K. Roll & Xavier Charles
"La Piece"
CD
$12.00
Potlatch (France)
P 199
a collaboration between electroacoustic duo Kristoff K. Roll and improvising clarinet player Xavier Charles with results between "pictures for ears", improvised performance and sound installation. "It has always seemed to me that music's most active meanings are those the listener wrests from it, interpretations 'wrought from social activity', as Simon Frith has put it. With social activity comes a host of histories - of identity, of circumstance, of listening - in my case, of almost thirty years of listening to electronic music, electroacoustic music and free improvisation. These broad genres characterize much of the music here. The improvisations of clarinetist Xavier Charles are by turns ruptured, invisibly mended and reconfigured by the 'acousmatic pratique' of Kristoff K. Roll. Those almost-thirty years seem to make this music mine." - Chris Atton.

Robertas Kundrotas, Algimantas Lyva, naj - Darius Ciuta
"Californian Sketches"
CDR
$10.00
pasvires pasaulis (Lithuania)
PP-25
Robertas Kundrotas published the only Lithuania magazine to deal with avant-garde music which was called Tango. he also organized concerts such as AMM's visit to that country. together with fellow Lithuanian poet Algimantas Lyva, he wrote "Californian Sketches". here the two read 60 one minute stanzas in their native language [an English translation of the book was done by Andrew McKenzie of The Hafler Trio] which are radically processed by Darius Ciuta of the noise group Naj. Robertas compared the project to Aube in that the two voices reading are the only source material, but they are subjected to a wide variety of processing. the results are not unlike Swedish text-sound composition. this self-published CDR is packaged in a jewel case with the only artwork being the label on the disc and a complimentary label attached to the underside of the tray giving the package a unified circular concept. although stated as being released in an unlimited edition, it does appear that this disc from 2000 is now long out of print.

Kuwayama - Kijima
"01.05.10"
CD
$10.00
Alluvial Recordings (U.S.)
ALL015
"Kiyoharu Kuwayama (cello, violin) and Rina Kijima (violin, viola) have been creating rich, flowing live improvisations for some years. On previous efforts, they have recorded improvisational pieces under a highway interpass whereby the environmental sounds of the area are heard in the background of each piece. Much of this music is to be heard on the trente oiseaux, gg, and 20 City labels, to name a few. With this release, we hear a refinement of this sound as the improvisations found on this CD were recorded in the empty warehouse no.20. Gone are passing cars and other incidental sounds. This work gives us the chance to hear the beautiful interplay of these two gifted musicians that is flawlessly recorded and leaves no detail unheard or muffled. The CD is packaged between five beautiful double sided cards containing artwork from Kiyoharu that suggests alchemy and the melting of sound. An edition of 400." - label description.

Kuwayama - Kijima
"02.08.23"
CD
$15.00
trente oiseaux (Germany)
TOC032
spare improvisations on cello and violin. "Japanese duo Kuwayama - Kijima have recorded their second release for Trente Oiseaux in an empty warehouse at Nagoya Port. The sound of crickets and waves picked up by microphones placed outside the building were transmitted into the space, where Kuwayama and Kijima played along with them, taking advantage of the natural reverb of the space, and changing their position in it while playing. Compared to to Kuwayama - Kijima's first release on Trente Oiseaux, where cars going over a midnight highway bridge provided a very ambience, this recording’s ambience is much quieter and more static, thus drawing more attention to the duo’s excellent playing, and providing a kind of peaceful canvas if front of which they pursue their musical and sonic explorations. '02.08.23' is a record that demands of the listener to pay attention and to become immersed in the ongoing transformations of sounds and musical figures - when this attitude is taken, listening to the record is a very gratifying experience." - label description.

Brandon LaBelle
"Music on a Short Thin Wire"
CD
$8.00
Ground Fault Recordings (U.S.)
GF015
"Each track of 'Music on a Short Thin Wire' was produced by using two of the first eight CD releases by Ground Fault Recordings [Zipper Spy, Eric La Casa, Radiosonde, Government Alpha, Jean-Luc Guionnet, Lockweld, Jazzkammer and Crawl Unit]. Choosing the discs in order of their release dates, I played two CDs simultaneously through separate players, and separate channels, splitting the CDs to a single speaker (one CD left, the other right). Using the speakers themselves as the main sound source - the paper cone - I attached short thin copper wires to their surfaces. I then attached the other end of the wires directly to contact microphones. Playing the CDs activated the speakers, and in turn caused the wires to vibrate. These vibrations in essence are direct 'sympathetic' translations of the dynamic fluctuations of the music being played, though respond quite erratically. The following tracks are excerpts from these recordings; each track refers to two specific CDs." - Brandon LaBelle.

Brandon LaBelle
"Techné"
CD
$13.00
A Bruit Secret (France)
ABS 04
exploration of textures within sound similar to his work with Id Battery. "Brandon LaBelle lives and works in LA. A musician, performer, critic, sound artist, publisher, he stands at the crossroads of various artistic disciplines, mixing his practices in a singular work articulating sound and social space. Through his use of contact mikes, the human body turns into a complex sound source, and the space where the action takes place becomes a musical instrument by itself. Brandon LaBelle builds his sound performance to reflect the site and the objects he finds there, found-art seen as a highly conceptual reasoning as well as a play in improvisation. The music of Brandon LaBelle reveals the social context in which it exists, or more precisely, it's the context itself that is designated as a musical event, through the displacement of the concept of authorship on an active social space. 'Techné' presents itself like the trace of a process where the physical body interacts with architecture via micro contacts. The technology is the interface of this contact built both on desire and the architectural constraint of the place (and its subconscious). A recording of Situationist poetry where the politics project gives its shape to the musical project, a radical noise. (translation : Pascal Rivoire)" - label description.

Brandon LaBelle
"Text Equals CD"
CD
$12.00
Errant Bodies (U.S.)
EB01.00
"This collection of recordings attempts to straddle that line between a semiotic wandering and a lexical return, between sputtering and speaking, noise and discourse, vocalizing and articulating, a line along which subjectivity oscillates." - from the liner notes. collects various text and voice based pieces, solo piano and noise electronics. packaged in gatefold card sleeve with 12 page booklet.

Brett Larner / Burkhard Stangl / Taku Sugimoto
"Compositions for Guitars"
CD
$19.00
A Bruit Secret (France)
ABS103
a three way split CD showcasing unique approaches to guitar playing. koto player Brett Larner starts off the disc with a 21 minute recording of "m-7 / 21-2" where 21 players (including Anne Hege, Joel Pickard, John Dieterich, John Shiurba, Jonathan Segel, Myles Boisen and Tadashi Usami) create very high pitched tones from steel-string acoustic guitars that glide together in an unearthly drone that you would swear was electronic if you didn't know better. next is Taku Sugimoto's "Hum" which calls for the group to not play the strings or create feedback, but simply explore the hum from guitar pickups. this minimal piece is performed by Tetuzi Akiyama, Oren Ambarchi, Toshimaru Nakamura, Yoshihide Otomo, Keith Rowe, Burkhard Stangl and Sugimoto. last come three pieces by Austrian Burkhard Stangl for steelstring and Spanish guitars that explore detuning. each starts in a standard enough form, one even using motifs from John Dowland. however, as they progress they are further and further pulled away from tonality. the first two cases going far enough to become rattles of loosen strings (in the second case being helped by Taku Sugimoto). each artist also has one page in the booklet to illustrate their scores. a great collection.

Christian Marclay & Otomo Yoshihide
"Moving Parts"
CD
$12.00
Asphodel (U.S.)
asp2001
"Christian Marclay is well known for using damaged & re-assembled recordings to create his music. He has put out many solo recordings over the years. Otomo Yoshihide is one of Japan's best known experimental musicians today. He led the experimental band Ground Zero in the 80s and has played with Fred Frith, John Rose, Jim O'Rourke, Carl Stone & Bob Ostertag. The two create an intense, noisy tapestry of sound, encompassing a wide range of sources - from the baroque-sounding flute and harpsichord snippet that opens the CD to squalls of Hendrix-flavored guitar, opera, flamenco, movie soundtrack music, and purely electronic sound. Marclay firmly favors the analog, intentionally letting his records get scratched and even gluing pieces of vinyl together, while Yoshihide employs mainly digital methods. The combination is potent and compelling. Unlike a lot of the people identified with turntablist world, they never go for laughs with sharply contrasting stylistic juxtapositions or the ironic use of spoken-word records. Sometimes the source materials are pummeled and entirely reshaped, and other times a melodic quotation will stand out untreated; the results are at times reminiscent of Stockhausen's 'Hymnen' or Eric Salzman's 'Nude Paper Sermon'." - label description.

Elio Martusciello
"Aestethics of the Machine"
CD
$15.00
Bowindo (Italy)
Bowindo 01
experiments with extreme frequencies. Bowindo is a new Italian label founded by Alessandro Bosetti, Giuseppe Ielasi, Elio Martusciello, Renato Rinaldi, Domenico Sciajno, and Valerio Tricoli. "Composed between December 1999 and January 2000. The musical research that I have undertaken goes beyond man's 'point of listening' (instead of 'point of view') to experiment what could be defined as the machine's 'point of listening' (the aesthetic of the machine). Therefore it is an aesthetic that privileges a 'beyond-feeling', the meeting with the 'outerness', with the 'totally-out'. The audio frequency field of this work is beyond the possibilities of our 'perceptions'; it is in fact in the range of the 'ultrasounds' (up to 20kHz) and the infrasounds (down to 16Hz). Throughout this work the sounds were generated at the maximum volume available for digital systems (0dB). Therefore this composition is totally full, saturated, without dynamics, with a volume level consistently turned up to 'fortissimo' (classical notation), just outside the range of human perception. What remains for our hearing? Only silence? However all that we perceive in this work is entirely the result of what has been discarded, the driftage, the limits of technology and our auditory apparatus; anything that springs out of those interferences, from those collisions, the clashes of those hyper-frequencies, their results, the difficulties and the noises of the sound-reproduction system (amplifiers, loudspeakers, filters, etc.) actually produced by the surrounding space (those objects that vibrate), our very own auditory apparatus and body (often it is not our ear but our whole body that feels and vibrates)." - Elio Martusciello. Martusciello has collaborated with a wide range of musicians including Iancu Dumitrescu, Chris Cutler, Tim Hodgkinson, Rhodri Davies, Mike Cooper, Z'ev, Evan Parker, Thomas Lehn, Alvin Curran, Michel Doneda, Eugene Chadbourne, Tony Oxley, Wolfgang Fuchs, and Jérôme Noetinger.

Kaffe Matthews, Andrea Neumann and Sachiko M
"In Case of Fire Take the Stairs"
CD
$13.00
Improvised Music from Japan (Japan)
IMJ503
a special meeting of three woman from England, Germany and Japan that specialize in the reductionist approach to improvisation - quiet sound textures and the use of silence. "Kaffe Matthews: laptop; Andrea Neumann: inside piano; Sachiko M: sinewaves, contact microphones. Kaffe Matthews created her sound by live-sampling and processing her own and the other musicians' sounds as they played. Recorded live directly onto DAT by Kiyoshi Takahashi, at Shinjuku Pit Inn, Tokyo, on March 17, 2002." packaged in miniature gatefold sleeve.

M.B.
"Maurizio Bianchi Plays the Clockwork Orange"
LP
$40.00
Marquis Recs (Italy)
MART05
long out of print archival recordings by M.B. packaged in plain white sleeve with paste on color foil image initialed by M.B.; inside the record is wrapped in a sheet of silver foil which is rubber stamped and numbered inside. "While producing the second ArcheoMB boxset (including the CD edition of 5 original M.B. LP records from the early 1980s: 'Das Testament'; 'Endometrio'; 'Carcinosi'; 'The Plain Truth' and 'Armaghedon'), the documentation staff working on the Maurizio Bianchi reprint series came across a very strange and peculiar object. It was a private tape dating back from 1980, never mentioned in official discographies and given only to close friends (this copy actually coming from the archive of mail-artist Vittore Baroni). The music was introducing a unique approach in MB sound. It was soon evident that this tape marked the passage from the Sacher-pelz concrete techniques to the new M.B. universe; the loop brutal approach applied to poor & pure electronic sounds and concrete material, so typical in Sacher-pelz projects (see full documentation presented in 'Mutation for a Continuity' 4 CD boxset) was here pushed to its extreme consequences and used to manipulate the soundtrack of the famous movie by Stanley Kubrick, 'A Clockwork Orange' (it is whispered that some Kraftwerk records also suffered the same treatment, but evidences of this were never found). In the same days M.B. also produced his first power electronic tapes titled 'Cold', 'Voyeur' and the epic double C90 'Mectpyo Blut' which set the new orientation to all his following works. 'M.B. plays A Clockwork Orange' was a unique moment in Maurizio Bianchi sonic researches and is made now available for the very first time; the first LP record by M.B. issued in about 20 years! Due to the specific kind of material reproduced it was decided with M.B. to issue these historical recordings in an edition limited to 300 copies only." - label description.

Roel Meelkop + Toy Bizarre
"4 Pieces"
CD
$12.00
Kaon (France)
oc99
a collection of delicate electroacoustic compositions based around field recordings. of the four pieces, one is by Roel solo, one by Roel with Toy Bizarre and the last 2 by Toy Bizarre alone. very carefully composed and full of rich detail, these pieces range from the small sounds to forceful. "Roel's solo piece is of the usual high Meelkopian standard. It dwells for a great part on (partly processed) environment recordings. Slowly the whole piece is torn apart and small sounds remain. Then samples take over. The collaborative track is cleverly placed after this one: familiar sounds from the first piece return. If I understood correctly this is a linear track: each artist got equal parts and on hard disc it's put together. Small bit of Meelkop, small bit of Toy Bizarre, small of Meelkop, etc. It turns out to be a somewhat more electronic piece with various interceptions. From the two Toy Bizarre pieces I'd like the first best: high cracks and clicks, with sine wave sounds. In the second piece there are these 'thumbling sampled sounds' which sound like the 'old' academic stuff with today's means. The second part of the track makes it up I think. But fine CD, well carried out." Frans de Waard from Vital Weekly 208

Misère et Cordes
"Au Ni Kita"
CD
$13.00
Potlatch (France)
P 101
a French quartet of guitarists (Pascal Battus, Emmanuel Petit, Dominique Répécaud and Camel Zekri) recorded in 1999. "Created in 1998, Misère et Cordes is one of the rarest guitar quartet in the world to play uncompromising music. Truly non-idiomatic and is played by widely experienced musicians with multiple trajectories. From experimental music with Pascal Battus and contemporary music with Emmanuel Petit, to avant-rock with Dominique Répécaud and traditional music with Camel Zekri." - label description. includes English 'liner notes' by Keith Rowe, which are essentially a type of poetry listing off words, and French notes by Laurent Dailleau. "In the language of the Solomon Islands, it seems, 'Au Ni Kita' means music for guitars; and this is indeed music for guitars. Four of them - two electric, two acoustic. The players keep each voice distinct rather than creating a homogenized ensemble sound. Approaches vary according to the styles of the individual players, but generally the guitar is viewed as a sound-generating machine rather than a mere instrument. No tunes, then, but an intriguing mesh of clicks, buzzes, scrapes and other elements from the extended vocabulary." - Julian Cowley, The Wire, August 2001.

Gavin M. Mitchell
"Bleeding Time"
CD
$12.00
Soleilmoon Recordings (U.S.)
SOL120CD
"'Bleeding Time' is a specially selected and remastered collection of work commissioned by Franko B. Including a gorgeous 4 page booklet of photos by Manuel Vasson and Franko B, this isn't a definitive documentary history, more like edited highlights. The pieces featured are of the more 'ambient' variety, though not all. I think the soundwork alone manages to capture some of the variety and edginess of the performances. Franko's work has caused much controversy around the world. His spectacles of risk and bloodletting attract critical praise and revulsion in just about equal measure. Not geared to shock, that's just a byproduct, FB's work is rather more concerned with making beauty from the unbearable. The remains change!" - label description. Mitchell is also a member of The Amal Gamal Ensemble alongside Karl Blake, David Knight, Stephen Thrower and others. Thrower has done the sleeve layout for this release, and the music is not far from the dark territory as Cyclobe.

Luca Miti
"Mansions"
CDR
$10.00
Ants (Italy)
ant01cdr
Luca Miti is a veteran of the cassette underground and also a performer of avant-garde works for piano. he has collaborated with Alvin Curran, Michiko Hirayama, Mike Shannon, Mauro Orselli, Miroslaw Rajkowski, Jeph Jerman, and Nicola Frangione (on his legendary "Mail Music Project" LP). Luca has also appeared on numerous compilations including the "Mission Is Terminated" double LP. this CDR is his experimental work and seems to be long out of print (in fact the label itself seems to have disappeared at this point). "Luca Miti in his works tends to put himself in relation to the sound, searching for the interaction between sound and environment and, more important, between the capability to produce a sound and to receive it. Some 'theatre' music - raw excerpts of sparse and subtle electronic sounds (for 'E non mi resta che restare solo'). The audio component of the 'sound installation' - 'Mens Conlcusa' - a loop with scratching and clicking sounds and mutant voices. The electronic interaction between two performers (Miti itself and the long time fellow Francesco Michi) in the long 'Giocattoli' (Toys) - a sparse sound ambient due to the use of small, low-fi live electronics and 'anachronistic' electronic sounds. The sound flux (again from Michi and Miti) that design the time-space of a specific place, in 'II° Progetto per la regolamentazione e l'ordinamento dei flussi estetici per la comunità di Topolò 2001'. And then, to close, the soundtrack for another theatrical piece 'Immaginate la notte', modeled on Massenet and pregnant of a lyrical atmosphere, that finally flows in a tonal ending for accordion, amusing counterpart for a work that well represent, even if in a fragmented way, the sounding universe of the author." - label description. I have copies of this in a slimline jewel case and a gatefold sleeve. let me know if you prefer either one.

Andreas Mniestris
"Some Pieces"
CD
$15.00
Simona Sarchi (Canada)
SSACD 02801
wonderful little known and unappreciated electroacoustic / musique concrète music. recommended. "He was born in 1956 in Piraeus. After graduating in Physics he began studying Music, soon to be attracted by Musique Concrete while, at the same time, his interest in free improvisation increased. He continued his studies in Electroacoustic Music in Paris with Horracio Vaggione and later at Mills College in California with Larry Polansky, Gordon Mumma and Robert Ashley. At Mills he has also studied composition with Anthony Braxton. After an internship as Audio Associate at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada he returned to Greece in 1991. Since 1994, he has lived in Corfu where he teaches Electroacoustic Music and Recording Techniques at the Music Department of Ionian University. The CD contains five electroacoustic pieces made with his technique of improvising tape using multiple loudspeaker spatialization systems. 'Trane' is a composition made with the idea to create a music project as result of the feelings that another music caused. In this particular piece, the source of inspiration was the music of John Coltrane in its entirety. The capacity, surprise, lyricism and spirituality are some of the parameters of Coltrane's music which are expressed with the alphabet of Music Concrète." - Anastasis Grivas.

M.N.S.
"Incredible Noise Guitar"
CD
$15.00
NS (Japan)
PAL-MNS
two pieces of electric 'noise' guitar, one of which is dedicated to Motoharu Yoshizawa. pure, unrelenting harsh noise from this solo unit that also had a 7" lathe cut released by MSBR Records. the person behind this project, Naoaki Miyamoto, has also collaborated with Kawabata Makoto.

Alfredo Costa Monteiro
"Anatomy of Inner Place"
CD
$13.00
Monotype Records / Astipalea (Poland)
mono016 / ast#0029
a micro-noise symphony of drones and buzzes from this up and coming Spanish artist. "All the sound sources are part of Alfredo Costa Monteiro's domestic environment. Every sound is used here as it was recorded with no electronic effects or processing except for dynamics. Some sounds result from acoustic combinations of other sounds." - label description.

Thurston Moore & Marco Fusinato
"TM / MF"
CD EP
$14.00
Freewaysound (Australia)
FREEWAYSOUND 002
"TM / MF is a collaborative project for an exhibition. Thurston Moore entered the studio and improvised ten tracks w/ guitar, shoving it against an amp, laying it on the floor, sliding a bottle up and down the strings, among other methods of producing sound. Not only were the songs recorded but Moore was also videotaped to display this part of the process as an element of the installation. For his part Fusinato placed a piece of primed masonite on the floor, poured his signature red paint on it, and picked up various implements found in the studio as painting tools (a brush, roller, plastic bag, cheap brushes tied together and a plastic bottle) and created a distinct painting for each track, allowing himself only the duration of each track top cover the surface. the resulting tracks/paintings area tangible testament to attitude. Devoid of decoration and conventional technique they area testament to the simple and direct actions used to produce them. CD features the 10 tracks recorded by Thurston Moore and comes with a 24 page color booklet with track by track images demonstrating the process and wraparound page with installation image." - label description.

m/s
"Perturbation Field and the Equilibrium"
CD
$35.00
WrK (Japan)
WrK002mlt
installation using fluorescent lamps and electro-magnetic field. very minimal static sound. numbered edition of 300. original graphic cover, text sheets, signed.

Günter Müller
"Eight Landscapes"
CD
$12.00
For 4 Ears Records (Switzerland)
CD1445
German born percussionist Müller, who has been living in Switzerland since the age of 12, first came to prominence as a member of Nachtluft and running the label For 4 Ears. very active on the international improvised music scene, Müller has collaborated with a diverse array of talent. most pertinent to this disc though is his collaborations with Voice Crack under the name poire_z. although still credited as playing selected percussion, as well as MDs, iPod, electronics, and processing, this album focuses on subtle shifting timbres of wavering and crackling sounds. meant to evoke eight landscapes seen from the airplane during a flight from Colorado Springs to Chicago, the pieces here are wide open and spacious. this CD is a refined version of what has been heard on his collaborative discs on Erstwhile.

Müller Voice Crack O'Rourke
"Table, Chair, and Hatstand"
CD
$12.00
For 4 Ears Records (Switzerland)
CD 820
the quartet of Günter Müller (drums and electronics), Jim O'Rourke (guitar, piano and electronics), Norbert Möslang and Andy Guhl (both on cracked everyday electronics) met at Zack Studio, St. Gallen, Switzerland in 1996 to record this. in contrast to Müller & O'Rourke's duet recorded two years earlier, this album is much more subtle blending layers of strange sounds, buzzing noises, irregular pulses and distant rumblings into five organic tracks that are a beautiful expansion on the Voice Crack sound.

Roberto Musci / Chris Cutler / Jon Rose / Claudio Gabbiano
"Steel Water Light"
CD
$16.00
ReR Megacorp (England)
ReR RMGC
sampler, electrified percussion, processing, tenor violin, acoustic and electric guitars. "Music made originally for three short silent films by Joris Ivens, Paul Strand and Charles Sheeler performed as part of a music and film festival in Milan; here re-mastered, edited and reorganised for listening. Hard to describe, but it straddles the ground between composed and improvised, atmospheric and graphic music, with emphasis on colour, atmosphere and structure." - label description.

Muslimgauze
"Veiled Sisters Remix"
CD
$12.00
Soleilmoon Recordings (U.S.)
SOL105CD
"Veiled Sisters was first released by Soleilmoon as a double CD in 1993 (SOL 20 CD). It was received with great acclaim at the time, and is still enjoying steady sales nearly ten years later. Bryn Jones, a.k.a. Muslimgauze, recorded a follow-up in 1996, in which he reworked and recycled the materials into another album. It was delivered to Soleilmoon more as an afterthought than something he intended us to issue. 'Veiled Sisters Remix', as the piece was called, was held back from release at Bryn's request, with the reason being given generally that he wanted us to release something else that was 'newer and better', in his words. Now more than three years after his death, and with the continued consent of his family, we are pleased to finally be able to issue this forgotten gem of music. It's typical of its period, a time in which his work was reaching a creative zenith, but it stands out for it's unusual use of a single album as its source. In the time between the original 'Veiled Sisters' and the 'Remix' Bryn acquired and mastered the use of nearly all of the professional studio equipment that was so important to his later works. With this version he felt that he'd finally achieved the true vision of the album that he'd set out to record three years previously. 'Veiled Sisters Remix' was designed by Alexander Baumgardt, the noted German designer who designed 'Hummus'. Both CDs have a similar appearance at first glance, but they are in fact two distinctly different albums." - label description. Digipak.

Mux Trio
CD
$14.00
AufRuhr Records (Germany)
ART CD 004
Lesley Olson (flutes), Olaf Pyras (drums and short-wave radio) and Michael Vorfeld (percussion and inside piano) present a lively sound with the energy and exploration of free improvisation. they perform "Here and There" by Stuart Saunders Smith and "Ryoanji" by John Cage as well as compositions by themselves and a trio of pieces based on Herbert Brün's "Floating Hierarchies - Trio 16.a.3". recorded in 1996, this release predates some of the better known works by Vorfeld on trente oiseaux, Rossbin, Esquilo, Creative Sources and Non Visual Objects. Olson has appeared on various recordings of works by Harry Partch, Johannes Fritsch, and Herbert Brün.

Nappe
"lp / tic"
CD
$15.00
SMI (France)
NM 211
glitchy electronic with more vitality than the usual fair as the duo play with guitar, electronics, turntable and sampler, on two tracks actually improvised directly to DAT. in matte recycled paper sleeve.

Seth Nehil
"Tracing the Skins of Clouds"
CD
$11.00
Kaon (France)
ao98
"The debut release from US sound artist Seth Nehil uses recordings of wood, stone, glass and metal in natural acoustic spaces to create organic tape-compositions. Without the use of effects or electronics, these sounds are layered into complex unfolding explorations of micro-tonalities and the interaction of sound-bodies in spaces. Surfaces are activated through dragging, scraping and rubbing, revealing shifting forms within a turbulence of dynamic darkly-colored sound clouds. Seth Nehil has been working with sound for eight years, for the past four he has been a collaborator with Erg (including MNortham and JGrzinich) and Alial Straa in studio and performance work. 'Tracing the Skins of Clouds' is one result of a continuing dialogue within the Orogenetics collective, along with 'The Absurd Evidence' by JGrzinich/MNortham on Bobby J (USA). Seth Nehil currently resides in Austin TX where he also works on paintings and writing and contributes to N D magazine." - label description. packaged in nice gatefold sleeve.

9!
"none (-t)"
CD
$16.00
Matchless Recordings (England)
MRCD54
"Improvisations with nine musicians in rotating combinations of players, which is represented by the play and re-ordering of each piece's title (anagrammatical plays on the word 'Nonet', a word originally intended to be the project's moniker). Over 73 minutes of complex improvisations, with Nathaniel Catchpole (tenor sax / elk calls), Jamie Coleman (trumpet), Alex James (piano), Ross Lambert (guitar / pocket trumpet / preparations), John Lely (piano), Sebastian Lexer (piano / computer), Marianthi Papalexandri (moving objects), Eddie Prévost (percussion), and Seymour Wright (alto sax)." - Monica.

No Neck Blues Band
"Intonomancy"
CD
$11.00
Sound @ One (U.S.)
s@1#64
I still think that NNCK are unparalleled in the world of free floating experimental rock tribal freak folk or whatever you want to call it. they transcend the recent crop of bands from around the world that stumble through acoustic soundscapes. don't get me wrong, there are some great things out there, but NNCK seem to rise to the top always with a magic sound that comes together so skillfully while being able to easily plumb the depths of the laid back groove and/or clatter as well as full on burst of aggressive energy. these 2002 recordings made by frequent collaborator Matt Szwed is like the best of instrumental experimental easy going acid folk and cosmic Krautrock, with only a hint of vocals later in the disc. as a 7 piece band, the members of plenty of room to flesh out the details making a rich and full sound which is never too crowded. highly recommended.

No Neck Blues Band
"Sticks and Stones Will Break My Bones but Names Will Never Hurt Me"
CD
$10.00
Sound @ One (U.S.)
s@1#50
the late John Fahey was a fan of The No-Neck Blues Band and even performed on stage with them. they were one of three artists he asked to do releases of new music by on his Revenant label. the other two were Sir Richard Bishop and Jim O'Rourke, while the rest of the output of this esteemed label was reissues of older recordings. for their CD release, NNCK hand made a beautiful package which was quickly snapped. sadly Fahey passed away the same year this NNCK release came out and Dean Blackwood, who helped Fahey run Revenant, wasn't so hot on NNCK. so the title went quickly out of print. that was a rather unfortunately thing as this was particularly fine NNCK recording. for this album they enlisted Jerry Yester as producer and worked in his Willow Sound studio. though people often remember Yester as a member of 1960's pop band The Lovin' Spoonful, I think NNCK enlisted him more on the merits of his "Farewell Aldebaran" LP with Judy Henske released in 1970 on Frank Zappa's Straight label, a classic of acid folk. certainly there are some tuneful moments on here with actual songs, but No Neck take the psychedelic folk idea to the extremes creating some lovely acoustic explorations in sound which go further to plumb the depth of inner space. coincidentally, this was apparently their last recording as an octet, as John Fell Ryan not long after left the group to explore different directions in the group Excerpter. anyhow, with the original labor intensive version out of print, exchanging money for high prices, and difficult to reproduce, the band thankfully reissued the music in an affordable jewel case edition keeping this music available. it's more musical than their other outing, but still pretty out and really fantastic record. "the No Neck Blues Band, adrift in the ozone-tinged air of lower & upper Manhattan for nearly a ghost decade, stood at a fork. to one side lay the path to continued avoidance of human contact, and lifetimes of hemeretic improvisational events. to the other side was the trail into a kind of new free-pub-fat-rock dynamism, attaching the head of Lou Gare to the body of Martin Stone. which way they would go was never predictable. the myriad recordings & performances that No Neck produced during their first half-life existed more in the realm of spirit than of flesh. even those who witnessed the performances or beheld the recordings had difficulty in ultimately grasping them. the faces of No Neck were transitory, in all senses of the word. rock gesture, drone gesture, folk gesture, improv gesture, all of them traced smoky features across the band's collective visage, shifting like a big cloud of burned & exhaled cheeb. by the time No Neck hooked up w/ John Fahey, their image was fractal. unable to hold -- or even define -- their center, fragmentation itself had become their milieu. through records, they had discovered someone they believed to be a fellow traveler in Jerry Yester. when they found out that he had a studio in the Ozarks, they were on the first bus south. and when they came to the fork, they took it. Fahey smiled on this in his own weird way & here are the results. they have been in the process of becoming for longer than you can probably appreciate. dig them now." - Byron Coley, Deerfield MA 2001

Arne Nordheim
"Dodeka"
CD
$15.00
Rune Grammofon (Norway)
RCD 2030
first release of great historic electronic music recorded with technical assistance from Eugeniuz Rudnik and Bogdan Mazurek, both of whom have great solo tracks on the "Electronic Music IV" compilation released by Turnabout in 1968. "It is with great joy and honour that we are able to celebrate our 30th release with a new album by one of the most distinguished personalities in Norwegian music. Not only that, 'Dodeka', meaning twelve in Greek, is a small sensation in that the twelve pieces presented here have never been available on record before. These compositions are made from the building blocks and basic elements from Nordheim's work in Warszaw between 1967 and 1972. Considering the primitive working methods and the equipment available at the time, 'Dodeka' is also special in that it's sonic qualities are quite astounding with a clarity and character all of their own." - label description. Digipak.

Arne Nordheim
"Wirklicher Wald • Aurora"
CD
$16.00
Norwegian Composers (Norway)
NCD4910
"Wirklicher Wald" for soprano and cello solo, chorus and orchestra performed by Dorothy Dorow (soprano), Aage Kvalbein (cello), Bergen Cathedral Choir (instructed by Magnar Mangersnes), Bergen Symphony Orchestra and Karsten Andersen. "Aurora" for four singers with antique cymbals and tape performed by Electric Phoenix with electronic realization by Rolf Enstrøm at EMS Stockholm. both were composed in 1983 and published on LP in 1985. this CD version came a year later in 1986. "'Aurora' is a composition which is somewhere between the acoustic and the electronic world of sound, an area Nordheim has imaginatively experimented with in many of his works. 'Aurora' was composed for the English vocal quartet, Electric Phoenix, who performed the piece for the first time at the Bergen Music Festival on 3 June 1984. 'Aurora' bears the the dedication 'In Memoriam Cathy Berberian'. The text is derived from two highly divergent sources, the Bible, and Dante's immortal work, 'Divina Commedia'. Nordheim uses extracts from Psalm 139 with both Latin and Hebrew texts, as well as the final song from the 'Divina Commedia', 'Paradiso', in Italian. The musical texture of the composition is characterized by the contrast in sound between the quartet's direct presentation of the a conventionally notated piece, and a tape with processed sound material, for the most part vocal, which serves as a modern cantus firmus. The effect produced is that of the quartet singing a duet with itself, as the vocalists use close microphones, making electronic transformation of the vocal sounds possible, while playing at the same time on antique cymbals." - from the liner notes. "A composition often conceives itself in one's own memory. There is a long enigmatic distance, between the birth of ideas and their musical execution. This is particularly true about 'Wirklicher Wald', which has come a long way from its distant origins. In the early 50's the Swedish Radio featured a musical and literary programme 'Night Exercise', which proved an important source of inspiration, introducing the great poets of our time. A programme on Rainer Maria Rilke presented his poem 'Todeserfahrung' from 1908. I immediately saw a sequence of pictures calling for music. I can still hear this calling, still see the pictures, which, throughout the years have resulted in various musical transformations of these rich impulses from Rilke. Three years ago, my musical rendering of Rilke was again on its way: a large scale international collaboration with the distinguished Czech choreographer Jiri Kylian was to include 'Todeserfahrung'. The project was dropped, and a large material of music remained silent. 'Wirklicher Wald' employs this material in a largely adapted form. Together with Rilke's poem, I also include fragments from the Book of Job (14) in Hebrew in the ecstatic exclamations of the soprano soloist against the background of the German chorale. The cello solo is intended as a continuation and reflection of the dramatic and lyrical parts of the soprano and chorus." - Arne Nordheim

Nurse With Wound
"Salt Marie Celeste"
CD
$30.00
United Dairies (England)
UD104CD
original sealed copies from the first pressing done by World Serpent Distribution. "The all new Nurse With Wound studio album presented in a lavish Digipak format contains one of the most radical pieces the band have ever recorded; similar in concept to Gavin Bryars 'The Sinking of the Titanic'. 'Salt Marie Celeste' delves even deeper into the theme of dropping into unknown darkness and ultimate demise. Recorded by Steven Stapleton and electronic wizard Colin Potter in 2002. This is a landmark recording in the field of contemporary electronic music. Artwork by Ruby Wallis and Babs Santini." - label description. one of the more fantastic of recent NWW recordings.

Carey Nutman
"Contrasts"
CD
$14.00
MPS (U.K.)
MPSCD 001
this 1994 CD was the debut release on Nutman's MPS label which specializes in electroacoustic and computer music. the 11 tracks recorded between 1989 and 1993 range from from classic sweeps of electroacoustic sound to simple melodic minimalism.

Nzetwork Down
"1/1996/1997"
CD
$14.00
Hasikamke (Japan)
HS12CD01
a pretty obscure release and artist, and seemingly the only release this label did. this CD came out in 1998 and followed a cassette release by the artist on the Hasisic label. the noise collages on here were all created by Miki Naohiko in 1996 and 1997 and have a cut and paste aesthetic, but are not sudden jump cut or blasts of noise. instead they seem to be composed, but remain very abstract and include some very quite stretches of field recordings. Miki was friends with Hatohan and Toyohiro Okazaki of Shida and Dislocation at the time (he even offers some of their releases in a mail order sheet with the CD) and those associations help give a reference to where this music is coming from. a good release that really got overlooked at the time.

Off Ramp
"Off Chance"
CD
$10.00
Ramp Records (U.S.)
CD-5224
"high energy free improvisations that utilize electric string instruments, analog and digital signal processing, computer controlled synthesizers, digital samplers and original electroacoustic instruments. all recordings were made utilizing stereo miking techniques." the trio consists of Tom Nunn, builder of original musical instruments/sound sculptures with non-linear, random and ambiguous elements; electric cellist Doug Carroll who has studied with Stockhausen, Lou Harrison and Braxton; and Jim Hearson: professor, avid improviser, skilled computer programmer and electric violin player.

Nils Økland
"Straum"
CD
$15.00
Rune Grammofon (Norway)
RCD 2015
"Nils Økland is one of Norway's leading hardanger fiddle players, a renewer of traditional folk music who is also known to build bridges to classical and contemporary music. In contrast to many fiddlers Økland writes most of the music himself, ranging from beautiful, melodic ballads to atmospheric experiments and darker soundscapes. This is his second solo album, the follow up to 'Blå Harding', an album that received fantastic reviews when it was released in 1996." - label description. other musicians on this recording include Pål Thorstensen (double bass), Torbjørn Økland (guitar & trumpet), Sigbjørn Apeland (harmonium, piano & organ), Åsne Valland Nordli (vocals), Ole Henrik Moe (hardanger), Berit Opheim (vocals), and László Rácz (cimbalom). Digipak.

Omenya
"The Dark Meditations"
CD
$15.00
Tantric-Harmonies (Russia)
TANTRA X13
"Eastern-tinged evolving drone from the quiet hills of North Carolina. Mark Davis, the man behind Omenya, creates contemplative circles of hushed beauty. A sometime collaborator with Robin Storey of Zoviet France/Rapoon, Omenya carries on the tradition of thoughtful, gauzy spirals of sound. Limited to 500 copies." - Monica.

Omit
"Rejector"
CD
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM19
This is the first American CD release by veteran New Zealand artist Omit. Previously he has had three compact disc releases on the prestigious New Zealand label Corpus Hermeticum (including one triple-CD box and a collaboration with A Handful of Dust under the name Dust/Omit). Other releases have appeared on notable labels Fusetron, Stomach Ache, Trinder, Colorful Clouds for Acoustics, Aegri Somnia Vana, and his own Deep Skin imprint, which has now been renamed Sysecular. He's been featured in such magazines as Opprobrium and Bananafish, and was recently included on Anomalous Records' quickly sold out compilation LP "Electrically Induced Vibrations". "As a whole 'Rejector' seems lighter and not quite as painfully claustrophobic as 'Interior Desolation' or the majestic triple-box set 'Quad'. Contrary to what one possibly might think, it's a welcome development; instead of being on pins and needles I can fully concentrate on the visual scenery his music brings to my mind. I see burning stars streaked across wider inner landscapes, and it's all just so intensely beautiful. Of particular note is 'Divider' which with its mantra-like looped beats and swelling clusters of synthesized soundscapes goes way beyond the boundaries of our solar system. It's an irresistible journey that continues in 'Isolator', but this time we can stop and look at things we pass more carefully as it repeats itself over and over again into an entrancing meditation that will leave you asking for more." - Mats Gustafsson in Broken Face #13.

- 1348 -
"Enthusiasm"
CDR
$7.00
Bake Records (Netherlands)
BAKE 035
a mainstay of 1980's cassette culture, 1348 was the project of Jeffrey Surak who was also in New Carrollton and now records under the name Violet and in the duo V. 1348 mostly released music on Surak's Watergate Tapes, including a wonderful collaboration with John Hudak, but also had releases on other labels such as Korm Plastics and Sound of Pig, as well as many compilations. "Enthusiasm" was a C90 on Watergate from 1987 and features great clanking loops and ambient noisescapes. remastered and edited down to 72 minutes, this reissue rescues one of the classics of cassette only noise releases from the 1980's.

Orange Head
"Right Into the Sun"
CDR
$15.00
Cha-Bashira (Japan)
CHAB-CDR 002
Pol Mahlow used 3 to 6 record players with melted, warped and broken records to make this 67 minute disc. the five unedited suites have great titles like "Warped, Twisted and Turning" and "The Cat Licked My Records". they mash up Japanese pop in strange loops with plenty of record noise. packaged in a slimline case with color artwork. seemingly long out of print as this label disappeared a while back.

Organum
"Feldzug"
7"
$18.00
Die Stadt / Siren Records / Robot Records (Germany)
DS33/SR09/RR28
when this came out in 2001, these were the first new recordings from Organum released in a little while and they recall some of the finer moments on the noisy L.A.Y.L.A.H. releases. limited edition of 333 copies. released in plain white sleeve. black vinyl. first side is 2 minutes 18 seconds; second side ('Stumpf') is 1 minute 12 seconds.

Organum
"Ikon"
CD EP
$11.00
Robot Records / Siren Records (U.S.)
RR-23 / SR-06
"Appearing only for a short time as a small edition cassette on Aeroplane (1987), and then later as a 12" EP (1989) on Christoph Heemann's Dom Bartwuchs label, 'Ikon' proved to be a monumental achievement in the Organum sound. Within the five compositions, Jackman combined self-made woodwind instruments along with vast droning environments to create spacious, haunting landscapes. These melodic undercurrents were paired with voice, percussive streams, and an assortment of textural elements that convey an incredibly eerie yet beautiful sense of space. Remastered and including an alternate mix of the title track, 'Ikon' is an awesome document of one of David Jackman's most important works. 16 minutes." - label description. edition of 700 copies.

Organum / Eddie Prévost
"Crux / Flayed"
CD
$17.00
Matchless Recordings (England)
MRCD27
a split between AMM's Prévost and Jackman's glorious drone project bringing forth wonderful atmospheres using acoustic sources. Prévost's work here is thunderous, his percussion building into reverberant waves. both Jackman and Prévost were in the Scratch Orchestra together, but this reunited them for new work. "'Flayed' features mainly Eddie Prévost on drums, general percussion and acme thunderer whistle. David Jackman added some bowed cymbals and electronic sounds. 'Crux' features Andrew Chalk on bowed gong, David Jackman on drone flute and bowed piano, Dinah Jane Rowe on drone flute, and Stephen Stapleton on chair. 'Flayed' and 'Crux' were produced by David Jackman and first featured on an LP released by Silent Records (USA) SR 8704A/B." - from the back cover.

ORHANYOJ
"1. Quartett"
CDR
$17.00
IRRAH-Verlag (Germany)
RAYJ 001
ORHANYOJ is a quartet of German wind players and this is the first of their quartets of which at least 5 have been done so far. however, while this is the first, the four members have been playing together in various combination previous to this, as has been documented on other Irrah releases such as the ZBM quartet. this disc presents a single 31 minute piece of rather atonal music for trombones, cornet and tenor horn, with occasional interjections from other instruments. the horns clash against each other and remind me of some of the work by Vinko Globokar. released in an unlimited edition, this CDR is now out of print.

ORHANYOJ
"2. Quartett"
CDR
$15.00
IRRAH-Verlag (Germany)
RAYJ 002
ORHANYOJ is a quartet of German wind players and this is the second of their quartets of which at least 5 have been done so far. this disc presents a single 42 minute piece of rather atonal music for brass instruments. the horns clash against each other and remind me of some of the work by Vinko Globokar. released in an unlimited edition, this CDR is now out of print.

Jim O'Rourke, Michael Prime & Eddie Prévost
"Alpha Lemur Echo Two"
CD
$13.00
Mycophile Records (U.K.)
SPOR 05
the primary track here is "Lemur", a 35 minute trio of O'Rourke (guitar & electronics), Prévost (percussion), and Prime (radio, water & bioelectronics), crossing the boundaries of rock, electronic and improvised music which was recorded in London in 1994. the obvious comparison point is AMM, not only due to their drummer being present here, but also from the use of radio and unusual guitar sounds. added to this is an early quartet from 1990 where O'Rourke and Prime are joined by Adam Bohman (strings & objects) and Andy Hammond (guitar) resulting in a more mediative atmosphere, perhaps due to O'Rourke mix. limited edition of 1000 copies in full color Digipak.

Richard Orton
"Instrumental Works"
CDR
$17.00
Unique Music (U.K.)
CD IRUM 1002
Richard Orton was a founding member of Gentle Fire and composed electronic music at York, but he also composed instrumental works, several of which used tape alongside classical instrumentation. very little of his work has been released aside from a few compilations in the 1970's. one of these was "Cycle, for 2 or 4 players" included on "New Music from London" released as part of Earle Brown's series for Mainstream Records. this disc releases for the first time four pieces: "Guitar Concerto" (1984) for solo guitar, solo obbligato 'cello, and orchestra; "Icarus" (1978) for solo violin and four electronic soundtracks; "Ambience" (1975) for solo bass trombone and electronic soundtrack; and "Scatter" (1977) for solo bass trombone, piano and electronic soundtrack. while the first is orchestral, the rest grow increasing experimental with their use of electronic sounds, and all would sound at home on old CRI LPs. the last two tracks are performed by the talent trombone player and composer James Fulkerson, while the earlier pieces feature Christopher Rowlands (violin), Arthur Nestrovski (guitar), Cathy Fells (cello) and Anemone Festival Orchestra conducted by John Godfrey. the composer himself appears on most tracks providing sound diffusion and piano (last track only).

Osaka Bondage
"Volume 2"
CD
$15.00
Shambala Records (France)
shamb 98001
Osaka Bondage was a duo which lasted from 1992 until 2002 formed by Nicolas Marmin (also known as AKA_Bondage and Arnaud Durand, and supplemented by Hughes Villette in their final years. they played more than 50 concert inside and outside France including collaborations with Michel Bulteau (Mahogany Brain), Voice Crack, Erik M, and Kasper Toeplitz. this 1998 CD sees them alone however using guitar, bass, prepared tapes, radio, and cheap electronics to create an improvised musique concrète that can also appeal to fans of illbient.

Matthew Ostrowski
"Vertebra"
CD
$11.00
Pogus Productions (U.S.)
P21016-2
wild sound collages. "Former WFMU DJ, denizen of New York's A Mica Bunker scene, former Krackhouse (not head) member, and ARP whiz – now living in The Netherlands, having studied elektronische musik in Utrecht. At last, his long overdue first CD. Matt says: 'My music runs without stopping, and at a vertiginous speed. The architecture is simultaneity. …Not to perceive noise as music, but music as noise. This is a recording of a live performance: one member of a set of possible solutions. Vertebra is a computer program, an environmental construction, a scaffold, in which the activity of making sense and it's suspensions are not merely illustrated, but actually taking place'." - label description.

The Outer Sound Project
CD
$12.00
Ecstatic Peace (U.S.)
E#86b
"40 minutes of found, encountered, and created music by NYC-based artists Jess Holzworth & Jutta Koether, drifting with handheld tape recorders through the streets of The Big Apple from May to November 1999. The sounds they collected were later processed and edited, becoming sensual, variable tools towards a personal and thoughtful art/action and transcending themselves into the miasma of the beauty of daily life." - label description. "We as artists know and feel the true identity of sound from existentialism to our immediate surroundings. For us this was a project of triumphant research, exploring movement, sound, and emotion. Movement of our universe, the sound of this movement and the effects of them together. Culture of sound experienced in everyday life, while cruisin' and walking, a futile affair. A sonic field of power, a materialist activity, an instinctual pulsation from which aural pictures of social relations, far and close, emerge. Reaction, interactions, affections of beings and objects. Something that keeps us alive, picked up while walking, creating our songlines, seeking spiritual meaning in material space. Our dance and music, based on a temporary loss of self in chosen surroundings of sound. Those are our songs, ambivalently involved, detached, yet dialogical, interacting with what we found. Our seekers' trips through streets, spots, stores, a kitchen. We are creating some ultimate reality. Everywhere, there is life full of incident. We feel one is one's life. You can hear us working on it. Time's embroidery of blood, music, laces, laughter… and here we go: "walkin' on, leather, leather, leather... wawawa… walkin' on…" - Jess Holzworth & Jutta Koether.

Out To Lunch
"Speakers"
CD
$13.00
Captain Trip Records (Japan)
CTCD-213
very cosmic instrumental rock similar to early Ash Ra Tempel and Cosmic Jokers and fitting in well with Captain Trip's program of reissuing older material of this sort. performed by Iwao Yamazaki (drums) and Kohji Nishino (electric bass) - both members of the original Overhang Party and the early line up of Ghost, with Taiko Yoshizaki (synthesizer) recorded live 11/26/1994 at Gallery Ricoo, Tokyo and at Atelier Himawari, Kawasaki, 1993-1998. the name of the release refers to the special speakers built by Yamazaki which deliver a "total pure sound", but only at extremely low volume. though formed in 1990, this 1999 disc was their first release, and seems to have only been followed with a live CDR. however the group continue to perform live in Japan.

Oval
"Ovalcommers"
CD
$12.00
Thrill Jockey Records (U.S.)
thrill 103
"The 6th full length release from Markus Popp (aka Oval) finds this world renowned digital mastermind extending the concept & musical platform of last year's acclaimed 'Ovalprocess' in every way. Exploring a spectrum of sounds between the abrasive sandblast of neo desktop rock (tracks 1-3) and the alienating, timeless splendor of DSP chamber music. In between there are unique excursions in folk electronica (track 4) and pop inflected wall-of-sound tunes that could only come from the mind of Oval. Popp describes 'Ovalcommers' as a 3D musical obstacle course, a friendly and accessible invitation to complexity. 'Ovalcommers' surprises with poetic and playful elements (organs and layers of guitar feedback), making room for understatement, sophistication and a new, almost absentmindedly casual atmosphere. Haunting emulations of processed brass, string and woodwind sections are carefully added to the otherwise still angular desktop rock. Listeners will leave 'Ovalcommers' with a new perspective on Oval in general, as Popp's strategy becomes clearly visible: A friendly, yet relentless fanaticism to experiment and innovate musically." - label description. Digipak.

Oval
"Ovalprocess"
CD
$13.00
Thrill Jockey Records (U.S.)
thrill 081
"'Ovalprocess' is a flowing, textured manuscript that utilizes sublime low end rhythm and directive pulsation in a manner that eases the listener into a soft and pillowy world dominated by electronic bleeps, glitches and moans. 'Ovalprocess' equally represents an innovative music software application, designed by Popp, as much as it serves as the core engine to an innovative Oval sound installation. The installation is centered around one or several publicly accessible sound terminals running the Ovalprocess application, rendering the exhibit a customizable, collaborative workspace. Making the installation accessible in a public space is the ideal aesthetic that Popp craves-he feels it is far more effective than offering a CD-ROM or another option that would make the application available on a more individual basis. The 'Ovalprocess' installation allows the public to use sounds that are found on the album to produce their own Oval-like music." - label description. Digipak.

Oval
"Szenariodisk"
CD EP
$7.00
Thrill Jockey Records (U.S.)
thrill 064
"Markus Popp, or Oval as he has come to be known, has delivered. The digital terrorist attacks with a CD EP comprised of new material and six songs which graced his previous 12" releases, 'Aero Deko' and 'Szenario'. 'Szenariodisk' continues his exploration and manipulation of digital technology. This CD EP is the final installment in his three part series. This series of Oval Process Software takes a leap from the platform of 'Dok'. While 'Dok' employed the sound files of Christof Charles, 'Aero Deko', 'Szenario', and now, 'Szendisk' are made from the rich and round tones of the Oval sound files. The tones and melodies are a ghost, or a faint reminder of the melodies on the Oval debut 'Systemisch'. Those who saw Markus Popp on his tour with Tortoise had a small preview of the Oval Process in its present state. For those unlucky punters without a home P.A.-play this loudly! There is considerable depth and a deep groove." - label description. Digipak with embossed element.

Harry Partch
"Enclosure 1"
VHS video
$18.00
Innova Recordings (U.S.)
innova 400
four historic short color films made by Partch in collaboration with Madeline Tourtelot. includes a 12-page booklet containing Partch’s own written introductions to these films. includes: "Rotate the Body in All Its Planes" (1961), a study of graceful, dance-like gymnastics movements with specially composed music by Partch; "Music Studio - Harry Partch" (1958), a tour of his Chicago music studio, and demonstrations of his microtonal instruments; "U.S. Highball" (1958; completed 1968), a dramatized account of riding the rails during the Depression on a transcontinental hobo trip to Chicago; "Windsong (1958): the ancient Greek legend of Daphne and Apollo, transported to Lake Michigan. 74 minutes. NTSC.

Ben Patterson
"Tells Fluxus Stories (from 1962 to 2002)"
CD
$24.00
? Records (Germany)
?07
the only black member of the Fluxus group interviewed in his kitchen by Sabine Felker and Gerhard Westerrath on 3/14/02. as a member of Fluxus from the early 1960's, his explainations and recollection of the movement are very pertinent. not one to leave things alone though, Patterson has added "Ein Heldenleben" by Richard Strauss to the tape as background music to make this more of a piece in itself. however, the music doesn't distract from the comprension of his speech (or his crumpling of paper as an example in one place...) at all, and despite 40 years living in Germany speaks very clear English (his interviewers of course have nice German accents).

Pål Asle Pettersen
CDR
$7.00
Zang: Records (Norway)
zang: 07
"The music on this album has elements of both electro-acoustic music and noise. I've used sound-material from recordings of improvisations with found objects, field recordings and digital sounds and composed them together into sound-collages. The sound-collages are built up by contrasts, both between silent and noisy parts, contrasts in sound-textures, static and dynamic parts and between concrete and more 'abstract' sounds to create much of the tension in the music." - Pål Asle Pettersen. Ed Pinsent wrote about this disc in the Tenth issue of The Sound Projector: "He creates deep, sonorous effects on par with any electro-acoustic composer from the French school, and his work has a simple, hand-made quality that sets it apart from the ultra-slick work of the Empreintes Digitales brigade with their expensive banks of computer-assisted equipment." unlimited edition in handmade paper sleeve.

PGR
"A Hole of Unknown Depth"
CD
$15.00
Noctovision (Japan)
NCVCD-03
ambient material from 1989-90 by Kim Cascone. original Japanese edition, not later Silent reissue. "'A Hole of Unknown Depth' conveys intricate vibration and reflection of surrounding environments. 'Microbe' as the introduction, is pleasurable and simple. Following tracks abound with numerous sounds - too many to be able to concentrate on only one. All sound are blended forcefully yet they perfectly echo natural and mechanical sounds. PGR focuses on these deliberate audible illusions. 'Horizontal' takes you through a path through a variety of soundscapes, on one level, at a steady speed. never moving up or down. 'Colorless' gives a spiritual quality to intensify the pale as ghosts pitch. This gives strength to the changes of simple black low beats and pure white piercing tones. This track shows that being colorless is not dull or dead but an entity in itself offering a kaleidoscope for the ears. The final eruption, '13' casts labrynthal views concentrating on depression versus elevation. Shining disorder is produced as a consequential drift of sonic locomotion. The four tracks on 'AHOUD' were made to re-create and embellish various backgrounds the artist had heard in daily life. These sounds are easily found but rarely noticed. Each atmosphere handcrafts emotional impact, if not a collision." - label description.

Points of Friction
"Sackcloth and Ashes"
CD
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM10
"Points of Friction scrapes together a mind-bending menagerie of sound from the panorama of objects and equipment they work with. Their process-oriented artistry invokes apparitions of the ear, with multi-dimensional sonic textures that span from quirky, seductive lullabies to revolting sensual assaults. Points of Friction made contact in the extremely beige but earthquake famous San Fernando Valley, a suburb of Los Angeles and home also to the infamous Manson Family. Tim Alexander and Kenny Ryman (Paper Bag) served together as psychedelic altar boys at the age of nine. Kenny was from a musical family, so he had developed a set of ears from an early age. Damian Bisciglia (Agog) and Tim became acquainted in Cub Scouts around eight years old. Becoming reacquainted among a few self-described social outcasts at Los Angeles Pierce College around 1980, they gravitated to the art department where they encountered a cast of characters. Among these were the profoundly talented Jeannie Cohen (Sprout Mountain) and the profusely bizarre Joseph Hammer (Dinosaurs with Horns, Swan Trove, Solid Eye). Relieved and excited to discover other freaks, they soon evolved an excuse for converging: making noise. Originally inclusive and spontaneous, their noise was extracted from everyday objects, and recorded with built-in condenser mics on primitive equipment. They soon adopted some recording gear and musical instruments but no musical training. When Kenny replaced Jeannie, POF was born. Inspired by free musics from Beefheart to Harmonia, they met in Joe's or Kenny's bedroom to exchange sound and interact in private naïve noise/rock ecstasy. Originally released by the LAFMS offshoot label Solid Eye [who were also responsible for releases by Doo-Dooettes, The Romans, Tom Recchion, Dinosaurs with Horns, and Fredrick Nilsen] on cassette in 1984, Sackcloth and Ashes is the most electronic and perhaps most polished incarnation of this multimedia collective. The unorthodox exploration of keyboards, guitars, toy instruments, the assemblage of field recordings, noise improvisations, and tape loops tantalize the senses with arousing emotive power. The opus title track is a compendium of improvisational soundings and field recordings that include a chorus of squeaky swings, a cat's purring, snapping shrimp, a diseased lung, and cacophony on a yard sale card rack. Exquisitely abrasive and haunting tracks 1 through 6 yield to the perfumed machinery and melodious hypnosis of the remaining tracks. All were originally performed under cover of live film and slide projections with optical manipulations at alternative music venues in and around Los Angeles including Al's Bar, the Anti-club, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions(LACE), etc., and aboard the U.S.S. Cormerant ("Noise at Sea"), with bands such as the Minutemen, the Meat Puppets, Whitehouse, and the Monique Experience in the mid-1980's. Every piece on this album has such (currently archived) visual underscoring. Re-released on CD, the disc is lavishly packaged in beautiful silver and black in an eye-rattling multi-paneled silk-screened die-cut cover that undermines perception in the friction manner. The low-key intensity of Points of Friction may affect heart rates and breathing patterns. It is probably best listened to in a darkened room."

Sun Ra
"Heliocentric Worlds Vol. 2"
CD
$13.00
Calibre bv / ESP-Disk' (Netherlands)
ESP CD 1017
"The follow up to vol. 1, released on November 16, 1965, found Ra expanding on his amazing piano style and includes great titles such as 'Sun Myth' and 'Cosmic Chaos'." this edition was remastered in 2000 and comes in a jewel case with slipcase and 20-page booklet. players here are Sun Ra (piano / tuned bongos / Clavioline), Marshall Allen (alto saxophone / piccolo / flute), Pat Patrick (baritone saxophone), Walter Miller (trumpet), John Gilmore (tenor saxophone), Robert Cummings (bass clarinet), Ronnie Boykins (bass), Roger Blank (percussion) and other percussive instruments played by Pat Patrick, John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, and Robert Cummings.

Sun Ra
"Nothing Is…"
CD
$13.00
Calibre bv / ESP-Disk (Netherlands)
ESP CD 1045
"Highlights recorded live during Ra's tour of New York State universities, and is the last album by Sun Ra for ESP, recorded in May, 1966. Sun Ra's 'Arkestra' consisted of between 20-30 musicians at any given time and produced some of the most interesting music ever recorded." - label description. remastered in 2000. featured here are Sun Ra (piano and Clavioline), John Gilmore (tenor saxophone), Marshall Allen (alto saxophone and oboe), Pat Patrick (baritone saxophone), Robert Cummings (baritone clarinet), Teddy Nance (trombone), Clifford Jarvis (drums), Ronnie Boykins (bass and tuba), James Jackson (log drum and flute) and Carl Nimrod (sun horn and gong). jewel case package with 28-page booklet and slip cover.

Akira Rabelais
"invalidObject Series (void)"
3" CD
$11.00
Fällt (Northern Ireland)
F.0014.0022
15 minutes of gorgeous ambient. "The Book of the Void. What is called the spirit of the void is where there is nothing. It is not included in man's knowledge. Of course the void is nothingness. By knowing things that exist, you can know that which does not exist. That is the void. People in this world look at things mistakenly, and think that what they do not understand must be the void. This is not the true void. It is bewilderment. In the Way of strategy, also, those who study as warriors think that whatever they cannot understand in their craft is the void. This is not the true void. To attain the Way of strategy as a warrior you must study fully other martial arts and not deviate even a little from the Way of the warrior. With your spirit settled, accumulate practice day by day, and hour by hour. Polish the twofold spirit heart and mind, and sharpen the twofold gaze perception and sight. When your spirit is not in the least clouded, when the clouds of bewilderment clear away, there is the true void. Until you realize the true Way, whether in Buddhism or in common sense, you may think that things are correct and in order. However, if we look at things objectively, from the viewpoint of laws of the world, we see various doctrines departing from the true Way. Know well this spirit, and with forthrightness as the foundation and the true spirit as the Way. Enact strategy broadly, correctly and openly. Then you will come to think of things in a wide sense and, taking the void as the Way, you will see the Way as void. In the void is virtue, and no evil. Wisdom has existence, principle has existence, the Way has existence, spirit is nothingness. Twelfth day of the fifth month, second year of Shoho (1645) Shinmen Musashi. This release is limited to a worldwide edition of 250 copies." - label description. packaged in regular jewel case (not mini).

Horatiu Radulescu
"The Quest"
CD
$15.00
CPO (Germany)
999 589-2
piano concerto performed by Ortwin Stürmer and Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt conducted by Lothar Zagrosek in 1996. "The character of the individual movements is very different and all are mutually complimentary; the atmosphere changes with each one. The composer says the first movement is 'very philosophical', related to a late Beethoven sonata form; the second is 'totally cosmic and abstract variations'; the third is 'a very dense and opulently orchestrated polyphony / heterophony of eighteen Romanian colinde, integrating the macro-form of a drunk matrix'; and the fourth is an 'ostinato of total joy, a wild ritual'." - from the liner notes by Bob Gilmore.

Hal Rammel, John Corbett & Terri Kapsalis
"Van's Peppy Syncopators"
CD
$10.00
Penumbra Music (U.S.)
PEN CD003
abstract dialogues of acoustic improvisation with guitar, violin, voice, triolin, single-string snath, musical saw and percussion. "'Van's Peppy Syncopators' features the acoustic improvisations of violinist Terri Kapsalis, guitarist John Corbett and multi-instrumentalist Hal Rammel. Terri Kapsalis joined the freely improvising duo of Corbett and Rammel (heard on 'The Devil's in the Details') in 1992, bringing to the trio her abilities as a writer and experience in theater performance. Five of the fourteen improvisations on this disc include texts written and read by Terri Kapsalis, scripted words which interact with the instrumental improvisations in a multitude of ways." - label description. "Scripted words and improvisation. As two distinct concepts they appear to be antithetical. The first - hard and fast, static, unchanging. The second - free and easy, limitless. Perhaps scripted words may be better aligned with the musical instrument itself - both are material (black and white, wood and strings), containing an alphabet of potential meanings and sounds, the hollow chamber of the letter 'o; or a violin's belly. Written words can lead to a second pairing - spoken words and sound improvisation. Through the improvised enunciation of sound and word, new discoveries are continually made about the instrument/language's potential. Conjoining these two and performing them for audiences, John Corbett, Hal Rammel and I experiment with scripted word/sound improvisations in addition to our purely instrumental endeavors." - Terri Kapsalis.

Hal Rammel and Lou Mallozzi
"Whole or By the Slice"
CD
$12.00
Penumbra Music (U.S.)
PEN CD004
"'Whole or By the Slice' collects eight electroacoustic compositions created by instrument inventor and improvisor Hal Rammel and audio artist Lou Mallozzi, the culmination of a two-year studio collaboration. Rammel is known for his subtle and evocative improvisations primarily focusing on unusual instruments of his own design; Mallozzi is known for his carefully constructed studio pieces dismembering language in its many guises. Their resulting collaboration is a journey with many facets - the resuscitation of old technologies, the playful immediacy of instrumental improvisation, the meticulous care of studiophonic construction, and the more-than-occasional sublime monkey-wrenching. The eight compositions on this disc file and fold, spindle and mutate everything from old 78s and tin can telephones, to lo-fi radio and dismembered pianos. From 'Pythagorus' (with Lou Mallozzi's text narrated by Nina Mallozzi) to 'Slice and Anti-slice' (with solo violin by Terri Kapsalis) this CD double-mindedly melds the improvised and the deliberate. Liner notes by John Corbett; cover photo by Hal Rammel." - label description.

Random Industries
"Selected Random Works"
CD
$12.00
Ritornell (Germany)
RIT 15
experimental electronics from Sebastian Meissner who has also recorded under the names aUTOkoNTRasT, Bizz Circuits, Klimek, and Random_Inc. "Composition by means of hardware for musical playback (here: CD player). Parallels should be drawn to the stochastic music of John Cage and Iannis Xenakis. The idea of Random Industries (selected random works) is as well to combine analogue ways of working/aesthetics with digital ones and to find intersections between the two. The analogue is modeled on works of pioneers of early electronic music such as Steve Reich, Jean Claude Risset, James Tenney and Max Mathews, but also on movie soundtracks on the late seventies. The digital continues the work with non-sequentially composed music which had begun with Autopoieses. As a data medium, selected random works by Random Industries works on two levels. First, the 99 digital tones which are on the CD as the actual tracks, are given special emphasis. They can be played on the random/shuffle position of the CD player by which an approximately 8 minute track (single mode) or an endlessly continuing track (continuous mode) can be heard. In the index of each individual tone track which has the classical length of 3 seconds and serves as a break, can be found 98 compositions which are confronted with the tones. These can be heard only when the random/shuffle position of the CD player is deactivated. The acoustic micro structure of the 99 five-second compositions are digital tones which are the result of an intervention in any kind of software which normally is opened visually. By its dissection into its still existing acoustic components, the hard disc opens up a purely digital organism. Random Industries is an acoustic experiment of the extremes which fully enjoys the limits of what is technically possible and yet develops an extremely audible synthesis. The marginal zones of the acoustic frequency fields which are just perceptible for the human ear seem to be defining themselves anew. The concept of Random Industries will be presented live as well." - label description. packaged in gatefold card sleeve with liner notes by Kim Cascone.

Rapoon
"I am a Foreigner"
CD
$12.00
Caciocavallo (U.S.)
CAD26
2003 album by founding member of :zoviet-france:. "The title of the latest album from Rapoon comes from a random moment of serendipity. Taking a break from his studio, artist Robin Storey chanced to walk into his kitchen just as a disembodied voice uttered the phrase 'I am a foreigner'. His wife had left a tape running in the cassette player, and the voice belonged to an actor on a 'Teach Yourself Italian' tape. Voice and narration are frequently part of his work, so after making himself a cup of tea he took the tape back to his studio. Soon, after extracting several selections of dialog from the tape a new direction for his music emerged and the phrase 'I am a Foreigner' became a key theme in this transformation. Being a 'foreigner' can be understood in the most obvious sense, or as an abstract concept, but whether you're visiting a new country or simply hearing a radio broadcast in another language, your senses are sharpened and new sensations stand out in stark relief. We feel more awake, more alive. 'I am a Foreigner' is therefore an exploration of new spaces and senses." - label description.

Vic Rawlings, Howard Stelzer & Jason Talbot / Anastasis Grivas, Theodore Zioutos & Nicolas Malevitsis
CDR
$9.00
editions_zero (Greece)
e_z#2
a split CDR with two improvising trios on two continents playing with live electronics and scraping textural sounds. representing North America are Vic Rawlings (cello & circuit bent electronics), Jason Talbot (turntable) and Howard Stelzer (tapes) recorded live at the Berwick Research Institute in Roxbury, Massachusetts in September 2000. this is followed by the European trio of Anastasis Grivas (prepared bowed guitar), Theodore Zioutos (live electronics) and Nicolas Malevitsis (amplified objects) recorded at Small Music Theatre in Athens, Greece on the occasion of their first meeting as a trio (the members have apparently played together in other groupings), which was November 30, 2001. both groups share a similar aesthetic and are well matched to share a disc. they take improvised music and push it into the further realms of experimental music as they explore pure sound. packaged in a heavy card folder sleeve and released in a hand numbered edition of 140 copies on this label related to Nicolas' Absurd. released in 2002, this long out of print and I actual found someone offering this online for $50.

Dana Reason
"Primal Identity"
CD
$11.00
Deep Listening Publications (U.S.)
DL 6-1996 CD
solo piano pieces with Philip Gelb playing shakuhachi on two tracks. "Reason's music, with its unusually well-articulated sense of form, demonstrates that in improvised music, form has a purpose, a reason to exist besides simply being the way things always have been. Improvisative works do not exhibit fixed formal potentials, but serve as enabling environments that invite growth, change, discovery and expressivity. In Reason's compositions, the combination of emergent form with overall global form produces perceptions of both particularity and wholeness, without any trace of kind of the kind of rigid, academicized formal articulation that only serves to hold the creator hostage to ego satisfaction. Traditional methods of musical analysis are only partly useful in illuminating how this kind of complex emergent form creates meaning. Perhaps Dana Reason's own words can provide a clue. She describes her work in 'Primal Identity' as 'searching for your sound and accepting and embracing it with openness and honesty...It is when we take a closer look and closer listen to these recurring elements that we begin to understand our own musical story.' The notions of 'sound' and 'story' advanced by Reason here are strongly reminiscent of traditional practices in African-American musical practice. The articulation of personal narrative, for example, is well described by pianist Erroll Garner: 'If you take up an instrument, I don't care how much you love somebody, how much you would like to pattern yourself after them, you should still give yourself a chance to find out what you've got and let that out'." from the liner notes by George Lewis.

Pablo Reche
"Gira"
CD
$11.00
Gracia Territori Sonor (Spain)
K100043
great fields of shortwave noise. "This young Argentinean artist has presented this first album at the Sonar festival 2000: an exploration of electronic fields that shift between different planes and explode freely amid seas of silence. An introspective but healthy work, full of dynamics and intensities in constant variation, that collects his last two years recordings. The music of Pablo Reche manages to move heart and soul without the need of exploiting the old 'noise' tricks. An astonishing opera prima." - label description. since these debut recordings made in 1999, Reche has gone on to release music via large number of international labels and collaborated with Anla Courtis, Christof Kurzmann, Zbigniew Karkowski, and Billy Bao. among his influences he cites Luigi Russolo, John Cage, Brian Eno, Adolfo Marin, Oval, AMM, SPK, Francisco Lopez, Labradford, Andreas Berthling, Asmus Tietchens, Panasonic, Tangerine Dream's "Zeit", Arcane Device, Fennesz, Daniel Melero, and Spectrum.

Recto Verso
"Parcours Scénographique"
CD
$12.00
Ohm Editions / Obscure (Canada)
OBZ 007
if you like your experimental down right weird, this is a good one for you. this is an experimental theater project from 1997 created by Gilles Arteau, Émile Morin, and John Oswald. the 60 minute pieces mixes radio and telephone sounds with several bizarre French voices. "This 'Objet Audio' is the result of an original idea and creative process conceived by Émile Morin. Originally a long trail of images of areas taken during a voyage from Quebec to New York, Morin added the talents of composer John Oswald and writer Gilles Arteau to his 'Parcours scénographique.' On their own, without any form of contact with Recto-Verso and respecting only basic referential restraints, they supplemented, respectively, a sonic envelope and text. This is the origin of what you are about to hear. We conceived this recording like an oeuvre... autonomous yet distinct. Its strata are like successive layers that superimpose each other while following measured doses. We've strived to recreate spaces visible to the ear. Words are but vocalized sonic material. We believe that amongst these tracks lies a hidden trail.' - label description. neat package with two 6-panel inserts, one printed on translucent vellum.

Jason Reinier
"Day of Sound"
CD
$9.00
Earth Ear (U.S.)
ee1042
budget priced field recording collection. "First in an ongoing series of sound documentaries focusing on the perhaps overlooked sounds of the world around us. This particular CD focuses on the sounds of an 'average day' (snippets from 24 full hours of sound, with examples such as sleet on a window, wave organ, birdsong, and a tunnelsinger). Jason Reinier, the producer, describes his intentions: 'On any given day, the vast majority of sounds we encounter pass by unnoticed; yet the sounds around us profoundly affect who we are. 'The Day of Sound' project is about appreciating all sounds and creating frameworks for presenting them to listeners.' Contributors to this collection include: W. Jonathan Hewat, Amy Hunter, Catherine Girardeau, Clay Reeves, Susan Sanford, John Hudak, Kit Rollings, Tony Ferro, Mike Perko, Paul Matzner, Roberto Cagnoli, Charles Amirkhanian, Eleanor Pugh, Richard L. Thorn, Jim Metzner, Paul Feyling, Peter Rantasa, Aiden McIntyre, Scott Dorsey, Bob Boster, Thomas Gerwin, Douglas Quin, Tamia Anderson, Tom Cox, Maria Gilardin, Pamela Winfrey, Frank E. Henrickson, Joachim Rusenberg, Michael Northam, Yuko Nexus6, Kevin Collins, and Arthur Bukholz." - Monica. gatefold card sleeve.

Benjamin Renard et Fabrice Eglin
CD
$12.00
Vert Pituite (France)
vp 0201
raw electronics with compositional form created through timbre and dynamics. "First CD from this new duo started two years ago [1999?]. Benjamin Renard (born in 1982) plays with old electronic equipment (radio, amplifier, speaker, microphones, printed circuit...) to create all kind of noises build in a musical way. Fabrice Eglin (born in 1972) plays with horizontal guitar, using fans, radio and other objects to create different kinds of drones and some disturbances. Their music has the power of Voice Crack and the spirit of a label like Corpus Hermeticum." - label description. packaged in jewel case with insert, but no tray. amusingly it does have spines though.

The Residents
"The Commercial Album"
CD
$15.00
East Side Digital (U.S.)
ESD 8128-2
classic 1980 album of forty miniature tunes exactly one minute in length, just like commercial ditties they are catchy, but much more odd and perverse. includes guest appearances by Fred Frith, Chris Cutler, Don Jackovich, Sandy Sandwich, Mud's Sis, Snakefinger and a few secret people. remastered in 1997.

The Residents
"Mark of the Mole"
CD
$15.00
East Side Digital (U.S.)
ESD 81292
"Originally released between 1981-85 as the follow up to the 'Commercial Album', The Mole Trilogy sees the band take a closer look at civilization, telling an epic story connecting several generations of the fictitious race of the hardworking underground Mohelmot people (the Moles) and the superficial Chubs. Alternating between the two cultures, the band use a form of lyrical storytelling to follow these two races to their inevitable ideological clash and using pseudo documentary 'music', the band show us the musicology of the two cultures, first separate and then evolving as the societies begin to merge. The first part of the trilogy, 'Mark Of The Mole', sees The Residents at their most electronic. Beginning with a pseudo radio broadcast (featuring a weather man, played by Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller, warning of large storms heading for the Pit Area) we are first introduced to the Moles and their ethnic make up with 'Won't You Keep Us Working', a prayer to the God of Darkness for nothing more than the privilege of being allowed to continue their labor. The prayer is answered by a ferocious and devastating storm, forcing the subterranean Moles to leave their home and travel in search of a new life." originally released on LP in 1981, remastered in 1997.

The Residents
"The Tunes of Two Cities"
CD
$15.00
East Side Digital (U.S.)
ESD 81302
"'The Tunes of Two Cities' is the second part of The Residents' Mole Trilogy which began with 'Mark of the Mole'. While the first part of an elaborately told story of political and social struggle, 'Tunes' is a documentation of the music of these two cultures as they were before fate threw them into turmoil. The tracks on the disc alternate between societies. First, one culture… then the other… making its point, not just by what is said… but by the listener's willingness to understand the globe-wrenching power of 'difference'." - from the back cover. "Originally released between 1981-85 as the follow up to the 'Commercial Album', The Mole Trilogy sees the band take a closer look at civilization, telling an epic story connecting several generations of the fictitious race of the hardworking underground Mohelmot people (the Moles) and the superficial Chubs. Alternating between the two cultures, the band use a form of lyrical storytelling to follow these two races to their inevitable ideological clash and using pseudo documentary 'music', the band show us the musicology of the two cultures, first separate and then evolving as the societies begin to merge. Out in The Coast and with the second part of the trilogy ('The Tunes of Two Cities') the story moves forward when word reaches the Chubs of the impending arrival of hundreds and thousands of refugees. The superficial, but not stupid residents of Chubville are anxious about this influx of migrants but their fears are allayed as they realize they can use the hardworking Moles as cheap labor." includes guest appearances by Snakefinger, Norman Salant and Nessie Lessons. this is one of the first albums to use the E-mu Emulator, one of the earliest commercial digital samplers. originally released on LP in 1982, remastered in 1997.

The Residents
"Whatever Happened to Vileness Fats?"
CD
$15.00
East Side Digital (U.S.)
ESD 80592
originally released as two separate LPs in 1984 and 1985, this CD combines the soundtracks for "Whatever Happened to Vileness Fats?" and "The Census Taker" as "Film & Video Series Vol. 1". "Historically, one of The Residents' primary obsessions has been the creation of alternative worlds. Sometimes this has been accomplished with sound - 'Mark of the Mole', 'Not Available', 'God In Three Persons'; sometimes with live performance - 'The Moleshow'; and sometimes with video - 'The Third Reich N’ Roll', 'It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World', and, perhaps more than any other project - the unfinished feature length video, 'Vileness Fats'. The world of Vileness Fats, consisting of a village, a cave, a desert and a nightclub, is tiny, claustrophobic and primarily populated by one armed midgets ...or 'little people' - if we remain within those contemporary standards endorsed by the politically correct. So what purpose could The Residents have possibly realized by creating this tiny world full of mutant midgets? Some would say it was a brilliant way of adapting to their limits: working in a small studio with a ceiling height of under 12 feet, The Residents were still able to create a fairly large bridge set, a cave, and a night club by making all the actors squat down and hop. Others might say that the group was so naive and inexperienced that the only way they could possibly camouflage their spirited, but amateurish writing, acting, music, direction and production techniques was by creating a world that was so completely alternative, that it defied comparison to anything in the so called 'real' world. With The Residents, of course, one never knows, but what is known is that the group spent four years from 1972-76 shooting anywhere from 60%-75% of the projected feature length video. Then, as the project was headed towards the ending stages of production, the group suddenly abandoned its 'all time underground masterpiece'. Some say the 'movie', as they called it, was brought to a halt by internal conflicts within the group, others say the technological challenges left in the remaining scenes, as well as post-production problems, were too difficult to overcome, while others point to the fact that, since there were no viable distribution channels available for movies shot on half inch B&W video in 1976, the group’s initial naiveté was finally overcome by reality. Again, we’ll never know." - from The Residents web site.

Resound
"Resoundings +"
CD
$16.00
Matchless Recordings (England)
MRCD08
the sole album by this post-bop free jazz trio featuring Peter McPhail (David Cross and Barry Guy collaborator) on alto and sopranino saxophones and flute; Tony Moore (Steve Miller Trio and Kiln) on double bass, and Eddie Prévost (AMM, Sakada, etc.) on drums. originally issued on LP in 1986, this 2000 CD reissue follows the pattern of other Matchless reissues by adding 23 minutes of previously unreleased material from the same time - in this case from a concert given at The Fire Station Arts Centre, Oxford on 21st March 1986. from Prévost's original notes: "'Resoundings' are freely improvised works drawing entirely upon the enlivening spirit and method of spontaneous collective composition. This process has all but been lost to western music - classical, folk and popular. Its revival is owed to those jazz and progressive rock forms which have thrown off the old skins of times past. Such musics are made by the irrepressibly vibrant, if alienated, cultures arising from the industrial world - both east and west and, in their many manifestations reflect the new experiences and aspirations of modern man."

Roger Reynolds
"All Known All White"
CD
$11.00
Pogus Productions (U.S.)
P21025-2
includes the amazing 22 minute mysterious scrape drone piece "Ping" originally released on a long out of print CRI LP and documented in 16 pages of Source magazine issue 6. the great "Traces" was included on the same LP, while "…The Serpent-Snapping Eye" was released on another CRI LP that was a three way split with Alice Shields and Arthur Kreiger. "Pogus is delighted to be reissuing these 3 long out of print works. From the liner notes: '...the serpent-snapping eye' (1978) was composed for trumpet, percussion, piano and 4-channel tape. The work is twenty minutes long, divided into three roughly equal sections. In the first, the primary aim of the performers is to match, submit to and intensify the taped sounds. The second, in which the synthesized sounds are sparse, introduces a felling of independence as the performers respond, reflecting on models provided by the tape. In the final section, the live performers complement and elaborate upon - they attempt to augment - the synthesized sound. 'Ping' and 'Traces', were composed to complement one another. 'Ping' represents a continuing interest in theater and intermedia running through Reynolds' compositions since 'The Emperor of Ice Cream' (1961-62). In live performance the three strands of events occur simultaneously but are not synchronized. As a recorded performance, 'Ping' is a self-sustained composition of instrumental improvisation over taped and electronic music. 'Traces' was written for the composer-pianist Yuji Takahashi. Scored for solo piano, with flute, cello, ring modulator, signal generator, and 6 independent channels of taped sound, this work is concerned not only with events but their residues (traces)." - label description. performers are Edwin Harkins (trumpet), Cecil Lytle (piano), Daryl Pratt (percussion), Roger Reynolds (piano), Karen Reynolds (flute), Paul Chihara (percussion and harmonium), Alan Johnson (live electronics), Yuji Takahashi (piano), and Lin Barron (cello).

Roger Reynolds
"The Ivanov Suite • Versions/Stages"
CD
$13.00
New World Records (U.S.)
80431-2
two 1991 pieces made of long sections of very quiet sounds erupting into tense attacks of sound and insane voices. strange and surreal electroacoustic music. "This CD presents two of the less often heard, most extreme and hardest to categorize sides of Roger Reynolds. The music for 'Ivanov' is collaborative, utilitarian music for the theater. 'Versions/Stages' is abstract experiment, music inspired by the desire to investigate compositional phenomena. Both are works seemingly far removed from Reynolds’s concert music, and, additionally, they reveal yet another facet of the composer, his quarter-century contact with Japan. The only instructions that Tadashi Suzuki (Japan’s leading experimental director) gave Reynolds before they began their collaboration on Chekhov’s early play 'Ivanov', was that he wanted some religious music and some primitive music. What Reynolds ultimately decided upon was the idea of opposition, looking at the religious and the primitive as if they were polar. And so the music became a series of opposing pairs. 'Trumpet Dream' is a montage of recorded trumpet material stretched and circulated in space, while 'Piccolo Dream' fragments piccolo material into small points of sound with strobe-like intensity. 'The Scream', which is an extract from Reynolds's 'Voicespace', contrasts with 'Monogatari' ('Stories'), the Japanese word stretched out to about three minutes. The genesis of 'Versions/Stages' couldn’t have been more different from that of 'Ivanov'. The process involved the use of computer algorithms that allow the composer to extend and enrich materials by fragmenting and recombining them in ways analogous to the practice of canon. In addition, he can slow down sounds without affecting their pitch, thus creating a slow motion that reveals something of the sounds' inner working. For each of the five pieces, Reynolds expanded one minute of recorded sound into a five-minute movement with identical form. He employs structures he calls 'windows of opportunity,' which establish fixed positions in both space and time to define the form, and then allows the different source materials to project themselves through this potential in characteristic ways." - label description. sounds sources: John Fonville (piccolo), Edwin Harkins (trumpet), Philip Larson (vocalist), Regina Mushabec (cello), János Négyesy (violin), Steven Schick (percussion), Kayoko Shiraishi (as Dionysus) and Members of the Suzuki Company of Toga.

Roger Reynolds
"Whispers Out of Time / Transfigured Wind II"
CD
$13.00
New World Records (U.S.)
80401-2
"If composers born in the 1920s deconstructed the classical tradition and destroyed the foundations of 'normal' musical practice, it was left to the '30s generation to build a new universe amid the rubble. No one has participated more assiduously in that venture than Roger Reynolds (b. 1934). He has infused into avant-garde music a perspective cognizant of the extra-musical world. It seemed surprising, yet fitting, that in 1989, Reynolds nabbed the usually sedate Pulitzer Prize for music; he was the first experimentalist sufficiently recognized by the establishment to do so since Charles Ives in 1947. 'Whispers Out of Time' is the prize-winning work. The title is the last phrase of John Ashbery's long poem 'Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror', and Reynolds uses a string orchestra to reflect the poem's changing images, as the poem itself reflects a sixteenth-century painting by Parmigianino. 'Transfigured Wind II' (1983) is an example of Reynolds's most quintessential style. It could be said that the central challenge of both his music and his writings has been the subjective response to new technology, how to absorb new sensibilities into music without allowing the technology to defeat or subvert artistic expression. 'Transfigured Wind II' (1983) relies on techniques that Reynolds pioneered in 'Archipelago', a major work he produced in 1983 at IRCAM: He recorded the piece's four flute solos and used a computer to capture, analyze, and transform the nuances of pitch, tempo, and dynamics that the performer intuitively added to the notation. The transformations then appeared on tape, and also became the material for the orchestral writing." - label description. performed by János Négyesy (violin), Yun-Jie Liu (viola), Peter Farrell (cello), Bertram Turetzky (contrabass), The San Diego Symphony Ensemble with conductor Harvey Sollberger (who also supplied flute source material for computer-generated tape), and John Fonville (flute). cover art by Jasper Johns.

Alistair Riddell
"Sturm und Drang"
CDR
$14.00
Archisonic (Australia)
270198
1998 collection of acoustic music from electronic forces - computer controlled piano instruments. eight pieces composed from 1982 to 1987 by this composer featured on New Albion's "Austral Voices" compilation. "Beginning in the early 1980s, before MIDI, I pursued a vision of pianos under computer control. This CD contains music from several systems developed between 1982 and 1987, none of which now exist. This historical collection reflects a brief but dramatic journey into the performance possibilities of the computer and the acoustic properties of the piano." translucent booklet and tray card. disc face signed by the composer.

Wolfgang Rihm
"Gejagte Form • Verborgene Formen • Chiffre I • Silence to be beaten"
CD
$13.00
Kairos (Austria)
KAI 1207
"'Art, working with art and making art, is in itself an invitation to boundless freedom. There can be no submission here,' writes Wolfgang Rihm. 'Uncertainty predominates, the only potential for an agile mind.' Four pieces of one of the most significant and provocative post-war composers whose titles speak for themselves: 'Gejagte Form' or hunted form, 'Verborgene Formen' or concealed forms, 'Chiffre I' or cipher, and 'Silence to be beaten (Chiffre II)'. Four pieces of music that attempt to realize what Wolfgang Rihm considers 'art's purpose': 'Not to be a place of refuge but a reservoir of energy in regressive times.'" "Rihm is another composer for whom form is only ethereal. The first piece on this release, 'Gejagte Form' - literally 'hunted, or pursued form' - shows that, just as water seeks its own level, as piece can find its own form. 'Verborgene Formen' - 'Hidden Forms' - is a piece with similar atmosphere and fleeting gestures, which is a continuation of his 'Forms' cycle. 'Chiffre' is scored for the very unusual combination of piano, violin, cello, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, and double bass. This work is a very intricate, crazy pattern of sound. 'Silence to be beaten', borrowing a title from Varèse, gains momentum from its strong, repeated rhythmic patterns. Competing with this driving force are moments of complete silence, hence the title." - label description. performed by Klangforum Wien conducted by Sylvain Cambreling as recorded at Casino Zögernitz, Wien in 1999. packaged in hardcover book cover.

Gyan Riley
"Food for the Bearded"
CD
$12.00
New Albion Records (U.S.)
NA 119
Gyan Riley, guitar, with Tracy Silverman, viola; David Doll, percussion; and very special guest Terry Riley, piano and voice. "New Albion is pleased to announce the solo debut of guitarist and composer Gyan Riley. This set of compositions describes a path that started in what surely must have been a most unique household. Now, at the age of 25, his complete command of the canon for nylon string guitar is wedded with a Northern California sensibility for improvisation and drift. Gyan Riley, born in California in 1977, is the son of renowned avant garde composer and North Indian Raga vocalist Terry Riley. He completed his undergraduate studies at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music under the direction of David Tanenbaum and later received a Masters Degree at the Conservatory under Dusan Bogdanovic, mentor for both performance and composition. In March 1999 he received First Prize in the Portland Guitar Festival Competition and in February 2001 was awarded First Prize in the San Francisco Conservatory Guitar Concerto Competition. He performed in the Bremen Musikfest '98 in Bremen, Germany and the New American Music Festival '98 in Sacramento, California, both as a soloist and in duo with David Tanenbaum. Gyan performed piano-guitar duos with his father at the Muenchner Klaviersommer '99 festival in Munich and made his first New York appearance at Merkin Hall in January of 2000, performing solo and ensemble works with Terry Riley and the All-Stars. Later that month, Gyan appeared as guitarist for the Tracy Silverman Trio at Cemal Resit Rey Concert Hall in Istanbul, Turkey. In July of 2000, Gyan performed solo and in a duo with Dusan Bogdanovic at the Festival Sitar-Guitar in Rome. In January of 2001, Gyan played in the American premiere of John Adams' 'El Nino' with David Tanenbaum, soprano Dawn Upshaw, and the San Francisco Symphony. Gyan performed in the Other Minds Festival in March 2001 and in June 2001 Gyan appeared with the All-Stars at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London as part of the Meltdown Festival. The band also toured Italy and the US in Spring 2002. Gyan recently gave concerts of original solo works at the GFA 2001 Festival in La Jolla, California, and at the Planet Tree Festival in London. Gyan is currently the artistic director for the San Francisco Classical Guitar Society. He was commissioned by the Elaine Kaufman Cultural Center to write a solo guitar work for Jorge Caballero's February 2000 performance at Merkin Concert Hall in New York. Gyan is also featured on the New Albion recording 'The Book of Abbeyozzud', Terry Riley's series of 28 guitar pieces, each with a title beginning with a different letter of the Spanish alphabet. 'Piedad' is one of three solo works in the set, written as a gift for Gyan in his 18th birthday. Gyan (the word means 'knowledge' in Hindi) is the only person to have been named by Pandit Pran Nath: when Terry and Ann announced they were expecting, Pran Nath proclaimed 'Gyan Shankar is coming'." - label description.

Terry Riley
"The Book of Abbeyozzud"
CD
$12.00
New Albion Records (U.S.)
NA 106
"'The Book of Abbeyozzud' (say 'ah-BYE-ah-ZOOD', a word invented by Riley, without meaning) is a planned series of 26 pieces for guitar, multiple guitars and guitar in ensemble. So far, thirteen pieces are completed. Riley writes 'All of the pieces have Spanish titles and take a different letter of the alphabet to begin their names. They are also indebted to great Spanish music traditions and to those traditions upon which Spanish music owes its heritage.' David Tanenbaum had been asking Terry Riley for a guitar piece for some time, and found success finally after Terry's young son, Gyan, began studying classical guitar and brought its world into the Riley home. David Tanenbaum commissioned the first piece, 'Ascención', through Albert Augustine Ltd., and through the editing and performance process of that piece the idea for the book was born." - label description. performed by David Tanenbaum (guitar), Tracy Silverman (violin), Gyan Riley (guitar), and William Winant (percussion).

Terry Riley
"Chanting the Light of Foresight"
CD
$12.00
New Albion Records (U.S.)
NA 064
droning minimal pieces performed by Rova Saxophone Quartet (Steve Adams, Bruce Ackley, Larry Ochs & Jon Raskin). "The Tain Bo Cuailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley) is a central part of the eighth-century Ulster cycle of heroic tales and is Ireland's nearest approach to a great epic. It tells the story of a giant cattle-raid, the invasion of Ulster by the armies of Medb and Ailill, queen and king of Connacht, and their allies, seeking to carry off the great Brown Bull of Cuailnge. Following an abandoned collaboration with the playwright Lee Brewer that was centered on the Thomas Kinsella translation of The Tain, I found myself under a spell and so began the work for the Rova. The wonderful rhythms and colors of the ancient names and places; Badb, Bricriu, Conchobor, Cuchulain, Finnabair, Galeoin, Scathach and Daire mac Fiachna must have floated their way to surface in some musical line or other. Although extremely difficult to accomplish, I wanted to have part of the quartet's movements in 'resonant intonation' with pure intervals combining in the saxophones radiant timbres. After composing the music I made a tape on the Prophet 5 synthesizer of the tuning so that the players could match the intervals in their rehearsals. Rova has taken this challenge seriously. The result is sounds that I have not heard previously coming from saxophones and is right in the tradition of Rova cutting an alternate groove in contemporary music. When we originally conceived of the project we wanted to leave room for lots of improvisation. This not only takes place in the 'Pipes of Medb' and 'Medb's Blues' but in addition Rova created the Battle Music section which is one of my favorites and points to their strong compositional abilities." - Terry Riley.

Terry Riley
"In C"
CD
$18.00
Wergo (Germany)
WER 6650-2
"The new interpretation of Terry Riley's legendary minimalist piece 'In C' - a co-production of the European Music Project with the electronics duo zignorii++ - is neither a modern remix nor a reproduction of the first recording of the late 1960s. The European Music Project was formed in 1995. Its members work as soloists, teachers, or in leading positions in renowned symphony orchestras. The electronic arrangement and the production are the work of zignorii++, a collaboration by Joachim Glasstetter and Jürgen Grözinger, who create electronic realizations that fall between the concert hall, the sound installation and the club scene." - label description. 32 page booklet contains bilingual (English / German) notes by Johannes Ullmaier. performers in European Music Project are André Swanepoel (violin), Marcello Defant (viola), Fried Dähn (violoncello), Jürgen Grözinger (marimba), Markus Romes (electric piano), Mario Frezzato (English horn), Enrico Gabrielli (clarinets), and Dieter Kraus (alto saxophone).

Terry Riley & Stefano Scodanibbio
"Lazy Afternoon Among the Crocodiles"
CD EP
$18.00
AI (Italy)
AIAI 008
lazy Indian influenced improvisations on Ensoniq TS 12 synthesizer and contrabass recorded at Sri Moonshine Ranch in 1994 and 1995. "I was very impressed with the fact that he played his Bass very similarly to the North Indian Sarangi (a bowed string instrument with many sympathetic strings that is played by gliding the fingernail along the side of the string instead of depressing it on the fingerboard). Due to my background as a singer of North Indian Raga, in which the sarangi is used, I found it very exciting to sing and play with the interactive parts Stefano provided that had a similar character to the Sarangi. Stefano also employed a unique percussive technique that makes the Bass sound like a Tabla Tarang (a set of tuned hand drums all tuned to a different pitch). He also played mainly on the harmonics which are pure tones sounding on the various nodes of the string." - from the liner notes by Terry Riley. 26 minutes.

Jean-Michel Rivet
"Embrasement"
CD
$13.00
Sonoris (France)
SON-04
"J-M R is a French composer from Bordeaux. according to him, his main musical influences are Pierre Henry and Luc Ferrari. He works by recording natural sounds directly on a DAT with two microphones fixed on a helmet in order to create a real stereo [recording]. Then, he composes with these sounds on some old analog Revox [open reel tape deck] with very few effects or electronic treatments. 'Embrasement' gathers together five of his last compositions: musique concrete with a lot of fair sounds, composition with sounds of a broken piano, some record loops and voices, composition with sweet voices and sounds extracted from an old P. Henry work, a more linear work and a last track composed with voice and oppressive sounds." - label description. edition of 1000 copies packaged in a three-panel Digipak with attached 12-page booklet. Rivet trained the GMEB and is a member of the Octandre group. one track features György Kurtag on additional synthesizer.

RLW
"Views"
CD
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM27
In the 25th year of Ralf Wehowsky's recording career, Anomalous Records presents his first truly solo release featuring four new compositions based on instrumental improvisations. Using simple devices (tone-generators, percussion toys, music boxes, an electric toothbrush and an electric guitar) played in unusual ways, he builds up layers of each sound to create a suite of textural pieces. Each of the four tracks takes on an identity unique from the others, as the first three each focus on one of the sound sources while the last combines elements from the previous three to make something else. The disc opens with a 21-minute piece of mysterious and drifting electronic tones. Other tracks highlight very tactile sounds and bring a much more 'live' element to his work, while retaining his skillful use of dynamics and placement of silence which have gained him so many fans. Previous releases by RLW have seen him collaborate with such diverse artists as Achim Wollscheid, bernhard günter, Andrew Chalk, David Grubbs, Jim O'Rourke, Kevin Drumm, and Bruce Russell. He is the founder of the now defunct group P16.D4 and the still active label Selektion. Other releases of his work have appeared on Table of the Elements, trente oiseaux, Streamline, Perdition Plastics, Swill Radio, Meeuw Muzak, and Metamkine.

Jocelyn Robert
"Canned Gods: A Typical Afternoon in the Backyard in Phoenix, Arizona"
CD
$12.00
Avatar / Ohm Éditions (Canada)
AVTR 014
found sound collage. "'Canned Gods' began with this observation: sound effects libraries on compact discs, the ones used in the movie industry or for radio plays, double up as cultural dictionaries. Each sound library presents the most important sounds for the culture that chose them. An example: one of the American sound library offers a huge number of car sounds, while the BBC's has maybe a dozen of them, while the latter has a number of field recordings from foreign colonies which do not appear on the American sound effects CDs…even the form of presentation of these sounds (their length, order, etc.…) is different. When considering these collections globally, one gets the feeling that they are some sort of an audio picture box or an audio picture book that presents a culture or a country. Thus, my idea has been to take one of these audio libraries and to use these sounds to trace a portrait of the culture from its own material. 'Canned Gods: a typical afternoon in the backyard in Phoenix, Arizona' is the result of a first attempt with this approach applied to the United States." - label description. minimally packaged in a jewel case with only one half of a tray card.

Jocelyn Robert
"Folie/Culture"
CD
$16.00
ReR Megacorp (England)
ReR JoRCD
very subtle ambient / environmental work with lots of silences from 1991 following his "Stat Live Moniteur" LP from 1988. an excellent piece of musique concrète. "...remarkable sense of time & space; event & silence; hearing & consciousness thresholds; sound & sense. Not to listen to or not listen to; 'environmental' but very much present...outside genre." - Chris Cutler.

Jocelyn Robert
"La Théorie Des Nerfs Creux"
CD
$12.00
Avatar / Ohm Éditions (Canada)
AVTR 003
surrealistic mixture of electro-manipulated sounds which simulate the random nature of our own nervous system. curiously bent, strange. souvenirs through the electrified channels of organic memory. "Audio-numerical is the closest metaphor to the active conscience. We create sound ideas by choosing among thousands of samples per second, and we make up ideas of ideas by choosing among a few more information units piped into our nerve canals. However, the process is not so marked. An idea is nothing more than the perimeter of a wave on a sea of electrostatic discharge… Thinking makes noise. This is the leitmotiv of 'La Théorie des Nerfs Creux': making the flow of memories audible in the electrified canals of organic memory. " - label description.

Jocelyn Robert
"Le Piano Flou"
2 x CD
$14.00
Obscure / Ohm Éditions (Canada)
OBZ 003/004
computer edited piano pieces which magnify mistakes. a gentle background. "All of the pieces of the 'Piano Flou' are made of errors. A series of software packages especially designed for this purpose retraces the hesitations and the imprecisions of the pianistic hand movements and amplifies them. The archetypal piano sounds keep you in proximity to the familiar as the tone enters into uncharted combinations and possibilities. (…) like Feldman teaching a student to listen the notes within spaces…" - label description. packaged in slim double case.

Jocelyn Robert
"20 Moments Blancs Lents"
CD
$12.00
Avatar / Ohm Éditions (Canada)
AVTR 010
an electroacoustic evocation of a gallery space. "'20 moments blancs lents' is a commission by the Chambre Blanche celebrating the art centre's 20th anniversary. The work is an attempt to listen first to these twenty years from a distance, so as to trace only the soundsilhouette of the time gone by, and then from closer and closer, until one can hear the grain of a laugh." in embossed pure white paper gatefold sleeve.

Dean Roberts & Werner Dafeldecker
"Aluminium"
CD
$12.00
Erstwhile Records (U.S.)
Erstwhile 009
"'Aluminium' was recorded during a marathon studio session in Vienna in April, and was brilliantly mastered by Tim Barnes. Both musicians play guitar and electronics, along with occasional percussion on a hi-hat placed between them. On the first track, Dafeldecker's sine wave electronics intersect with Roberts' rough guitar textures, priming the listener's aural palette for the marathon track which follows. This half hour long piece is a atmospheric exploration fusing the legacy of AMM with the spirit of rock and roll." - label description.

Claudio Rocchetti
"But Speak Fair Words"
CDR
$13.00
s'agita recordings (Italy)
s'agita 018
"Composed and structured by Claudio Rocchetti, made with electric and acoustic guitars, hands and laptop. The second part of the track 'Tired Nervina' is an emotional cover of a Robin-Proper Sheppard song. Recorded during the Autumn of 2002." - label description.

Steve Roden
"invalidObject Series (for)"
3" CD
$11.00
Fällt (Northern Ireland)
F.0014.0010
"(for)m. 15 one minute motion studies for Eadweard Muybridge. Processed recordings as follows: Forearm: contact mic. rubbed along the arm; Forefinger: contact mic. tapped with fingers; Forefoot: contact mic. rubbed with feet; Foreground: contact mic. dragged along floor; Forehand: contact mic. clutched within palms; Forehead: contact mic. pressed against head or inside mouth; Forequarter: 25 cent piece dropped onto contact mic. To be listened to at low volume. This release is limited to a worldwide edition of 250 copies." - label description.

Marina Rosenfeld - The Sheer Frost Orchestra
"Drop, Hop, Drone, Scratch, Slide & A for Anything"
CD
$17.00
Charhizma (Austria)
charhizma018
performed by the 'Sheer Frost Orchestra 2001': Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir, Andrea Claire, Nilsa Colon, Barbara Ess, Chiara Giovando, Daniella Fabricius, Zhenya Merkulova, Kari McKahan, Josephine Meckseper, Marina Rosenfeld, Yvonne Senouf and Brooke Williams - electric guitars; Alexandra Gardner, Kaffe Matthews, Ikue Mori, Kristin Norderval and Keiko Uenishi - laptops. "performed live at the Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris, New York City, 26 April, 2001. recording engineered by James Lo. The Sheer Frost Orchestra, since its birth in 1993, has been about creating improvised music - and improvisers - from an unlikely source: women I approached, sometimes on a blind whim, and asked to improvise. I provided them with a playing technique they could learn in an evening, which was a series of named hand gestures and a list of 'musical perimeters' they could think about - fast vs. slow, dense vs. sparse, sudden vs. gradual - and a grid-like score that put it all together and made the group quadraphonic, or at least stereo. the point was to recruit non-musicians and see them transform into musicians, or as I usually put it, people who were 'making musical decisions in real time'. the technique I was teaching, playing the guitar by laying it on its back and striking it with a hard, inanimate object - the nail polish bottle - was incidental to this original intention, which was to give my players a way to do this mystical and enthralling activity: play electric-guitar music live, though I was also attracted to the contrarian relationship of 'sheer frost'-style guitar-playing to 'normal' guitar-playing. we were not really touching the guitars at all, since the glass surface on the bottom of the bottles mediated our touch; and the floor instead of our laps or crotches was what the instruments rested on. this altered something fundamental about what I thought bodies and electric guitars were supposed to become together. as guitarists, we were cold instead of hot, frosty, glassy, impermeable and opaque - or sheer or matte or whatever else the bottles said on them about the polish inside. though I originally believed we were 'antivirtuosos', rejecting the temple of guitar gods, the orchestra evolved its own kind of virtuosity. for each orchestra, I would explain the 6 hand-and-nail polish gestures - the drop, the scratch, the hop, the drone, the slide and the 'a' (for anything, or all, or sometimes anarchy) - and do a sort of freestyle lecture on what 'making music' could be in this context. I honed in on ways I thought I could expand the field of communication we were attempting - refinements of the scoring system, the workshop/rehearsal process, the socializing that always went with it. the point was to produce as much sonic variation as possible. since we were invariably an eccentric collection of personalities, this happened sooner or later. it was fun, and then it started to sound good. in 2000 a pair of women who had played in the piece a season before in San Francisco contacted me and requested scores so they could mount the piece without me. they said they could teach the workshop themselves and would mail me a recording from their concert. that was an interesting moment for me, though I guess I can't say what I actually thought it meant. the last orchestra was the first one to feature the laptops. in the spirit of adding another whole layer of variation to the composition, I thought of replacing 5 guitar players with electronics players who would sample material from players nearby and process it. I chose 5 artists whose art it was to transform sampled sound of one sort or another. the result was this performance, presented by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, April 2001." - Marina Rosenfeld, November 2001.

Keith Rowe & Toshimaru Nakamura
"Weather Sky"
CD
$12.00
Erstwhile Records (U.S.)
Erstwhile 018
"Weather Sky was recorded in Saint-Etienne, France in June 2001, and consists of three live improvisations totaling 73 minutes. Both musicians almost entirely sublimate their egos throughout, creating a pure abstract feedback, with occasional flecks of sound jumping to the foreground, coalescing to produce a sense of eternity." - label description.

Patrick Rutgé
"Eaux fortes"
CD EP
$14.00
Collectif & Cie (France)
mts 02
"…plays on a more naturalistic level: it's a sound recollection of our town Annecy, an invitation for a stroll in its little streets and channels." starting from subtle beginnings of running water and building up slowly until it reaches a climax of cacophonous traffic noise and chaos of car horns and crowd noise where it then again slips into quiet outdoor ambience. 21 minutes. second in the 'Musiques Tracées de Savole' series curated by Alain Savouret.

Sakada
"Undistilled"
CD
$16.00
Matchless Recordings (England)
MRCD49
further collaborations (following a previous CD on w.m.o/r) with Eddie Prévost (AMM), Rosy Parlane (Thela, Parmentier), and Mattin. "Undistilled was recorded at live performances in London and Rotterdam in January, February and March 2002. Components are a restricted range of percussion (Eddie Prévost), electronic sounds confected earlier for intuitive, tweaked release (Rosy Parlane), and nervous hyper-attention to every noise present, allowing spontaneous digital transfigurations of some (Mattin). The product is a formidably dense mesh of textures and a subtle alignment of urgency and stasis, persistence and interruption. A sound-body exalting in its raw and varied outer abrasions, tormented by heaving intestinal bass and pierced irregularly by silver screeched, yet somehow concealing a few inner surfaces of all but languid smoothness. Needless to say (or to continue demonstrating, it is wholly incommensurable with any attempt at verbal description." - from the liner notes.

Philip Samartzis / Pimmon / Darrin Verhagen / David Brown
"Grain"
CD
$11.00
Dorobo (Australia)
dle8
"released to coincide with their 2003 tour of San Francisco, the 'Grain' compilation highlights the work of 4 of Australia's eminent sound artists - with Samartzis and Pimmon exploring delicate electroacoustic manipulations of field recordings, Verhagen constructing a fragile matrix of treated frame drum patterns, and brown dynamically deconstructing the 20th century post-classical sound palette. 'Grain' is limited to 600 copies only and comes packaged in subtle ice green textures on satin card from i+t=r." - label description.

Philip Sanderson
"Reprint"
CD
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM23
Reprint was originally released on cassette by Snatch Tapes in 1980 and was credited to an unknown duo called Claire Thomas & Susan Vezey.  A press release accompanying the cassette painted a picture of two pre-Raphaelite synthesizer knob-twiddlers who in between repatching their VCS3's went for long walks in flowing robes on Blackheath. Intrigued, the record label Cherry Red included the duo on their compilation LP "Perspectives and Distortion" alongside such luminaries as Matt Johnson, Virgin Prunes, Lol Coxhill, Lemon Kittens, Eyeless in Gaza, Mark Perry, Ben Watt,  Thomas Leer, Morgan-Fisher, Robert Fripp, and David Jackman. Cherry Red furthermore wanted to release an LP by Thomas & Vezey.  Until they realized that all was not as it seemed. Claire and Susan were in fact a figment of Snatch Tapes founder Philip Sanderson's imagination.  In addition to running the label, Philip was one half of the DIY electronic group Storm Bugs, and regularly collaborator with a then unknown musician by the name of David Jackman (one of these tracks they did together was recent issued on a 10" by Die Stadt).  "Reprint" was in effect one of his few solo recordings. The first track Bright Waves ( an earlier version of the track on the Cherry red LP) with its fragile wispy vocals that blow in and out on a tape delay breeze certainly adds credence to the Claire and Susan subterfuge. However the rest of the music on the CD suggest that this was more than a Situationist prank. The description on the sleeve of the music as  "a study in repetition and change using two different sources and two different treatments..." was a nod towards the materialist approaches being used during the 70's in most (fine) art forms. "Reprint One" and "Reprint Two" use the loop formed by a tape delay to build up busy percussive patterns. Recorded live, the VCS3 triggered by a sequencer feeds in a set of constantly chattering rhythms. As the loops pass repeatedly over the tape heads the sound gradually degrades turning eventually into pure white noise. What starts out as a polyrhythmic perversity, somewhat akin to electronic tap dancing, builds into a wall of sound. Also here is the piece "Under Press of Sail" (which was featured on the compilation "Snatch 3" and the "0° North" tape by David Jackman and Philip Sanderson), and the secret bonus track "Nein Nein Nein", which was only included a few copies of the original tape release of "Reprint".  Unlike the other tracks, this was done in collaboration with fellow Storm Bug Steven Ball.  Using a low-tech five-minute answer-phone cassette loop with the erase head disabled, the two built up a montage of sounds which were fed through a home-made ring modulator. The music of Reprint is a peculiar combination of academic rigor married to an inverted pop art aesthetic. For whereas pop art incorporated the cheap intoxication's of consumer culture into the supposed lofty rooms of high art, here was an attempt to incorporate the form or perhaps just the smell high art into the low brutality of DIY electronics.

Schams
"Erres"
CD
$15.00
Shambala Records (France)
shamb 99002
"a cross between extreme free-jazz (God, Naked City, Peter Brötzmann) and ambient (Z'ev) Schams (meaning 'sun' in Arabic) fuses traditional and acoustic instruments with electronic effects. the band's expansive membership has, as its nucleus, Jean-Luc Guionnet (sax, bagpipes, harmonium), Eric Cordier (hurdy-gurdy) and Yannick Tallet (drums). Schams proliferates numerous genres, from live improvs with Erik M, Dominique Repecaud or Pascal Battus (Pheromne) to electroacoustic performances with Eric La Casa (Afflux). attracted by their forcibleness, they were invited to play first attraction at Keiji Haino's last Paris concert." - label description.

Scheyder - Schwarz - Teruggi
"Transe"
CD
$15.00
INA-GRM / Celia Records (France)
CL 9717
piano improvisation by Patrick Scheyder, sound creation on tape by Jean Schwarz, and real-time transformations by Daniel Teruggi exploring intersections and time. "The sources are various: the piano, proposing and reacting to sounds or sequences already prepared on tape as well as synthetic sounds. Their modification comes next through transformations allowing an expansion of improvisation and integrating the concept of improvisation to the modification of sound matter. The amplified mixing of all the elements brings the final configuration of the Trio, in an experimental attitude toward Acoustmatic creation, characteristic of Jean Schwarz and Daniel Teruggi completed by the work of Patrick Scheyder and his mastership of improvised creation on keyboards. Complicity and listening are the result of 'Transe' and create the undissolving bond of the music for three, in three dimensions." - from the liner notes. Jean Schwarz has done music for films by Godard, Resnais, Moati, Ionesco and others.

Urs Peter Schneider
"Zeitgehöft / Sternstunde"
CD
$12.00
Edition Wandelweiser Records (Germany)
EWR 0101
"Performers: Erika Radermacher, Urs Peter Schneider, Niklaus Tüller, Luise Gaugler, Norbert Klassen, Michael Bühlmann. 'Zeitgehöft' (1976), concept for two pianos, is a mourning music. Here Schneider writes twenty-two stanzas of temporally and spatially carefully approached sounds, each flowing into considerable resonances. The work, commissioned by the Bernische Musikhochschule, is defined as a set of rules and algorithms and allows for numerable possible performance versions. It is dedicated to music author Thomas Meyer and was inspired by the twenty-two words in thirty-three syllables of one latest poem from Paul Celan's estate ('An die Haltlosigkeiten/sich schmiegen'). 'Sternstunde' (1985-86), opera in six images, applies imperceptible cyclical changes, simultaneously related to singing voices, speaking voices, toys and percussion, as its sole, homogeneously treated material. Besides his work in pure and rigid composition, especially in the surroundings of chamber music, Schneider always has been involved with theater, language and staging, before realizing his first and probably last opera, commissioned by the Swiss Radio Corporation, for the present as a contribution to the, as it seems, forgotten genre of radio opera. Reinterpreting the underlying text, this opera, thematically, is a conversation about the world between the two beings Ahriman in the odd stanzas and Lucifer in the even stanzas, while the two protagonists are not human beings, but spiritual powers. After the purely musical first broadcast (as a radio opera, in fact), Norbert Klassen and Janet Haufler, with whom Schneider has been collaborating ever since his first theatrical walking attempts, worked out an adequate stage version, a mobile opera project to a certain extent, that can be presented with very little means. It is dedicated to all the few and uses as its text solely a theater fragment from the estate of Friedrich Hebbel." - label description.

Barry Schrader
"EAM"
CD
$12.00
innova recordings (U.S.)
innova 575
"Barry Schrader, founder of SEAMUS (Society Electro Acoustic Music United States) transports alien otherworlds into your listening zone on E.A.M. (Electro Acoustic Music). It’s a mystic convergence of smooth, spacebound electronics, dreamy rhythms, drifting textures, and environmental arrangements that make for a captivating listen. From Bachian roots a la Wendy Carlos, to musique concrete a la Pierre Schaeffer, right up to new abstract synthetic worlds, Barry Schrader shows he is a master at the dials. Electronica not just for egg-heads." - label description.

Domenico Sciajno & Gert-Jan Prins
"The D&B Album Featuring:  Do Shine'o  & Prinsjan"
CD
$15.00
Bowindo (Italy)
Bowindo 04
"This is the first re-drum & re-bass album from the electronic duo of Domenico Sciajno and Gert-Jan Prins. They are both well known in the world of experimental electronic music, with releases on Erstwhile, Fringes, and Grob. On this album Prins' analog shake-pulses and sweeps are directly plugged into Sciajno's specific Powerbook aesthetics and vice versa. As a whole, the five pieces on this adventurous CD form a precision-combination of sharp computer-energy, rocking self-made electronics, and fluid music recombination-technics creating a grinding-spatial-musical concept, which at times reminds of Shine'o's & Prinsjan's rhythmic - and play technical backgrounds on drums and double bass." - label description.

Dan Senn
"The Catacombs of Yucatan"
CD
$11.00
Periplum (U.S.)
P 0030
"Dan Senn is a sound artist and instrument builder. In recent years, he has toured Europe, New Zealand, and North America, exhibiting his instruments and performing with them. And this CD contains his performances with his instruments, among which are the Too Flutter, Fayfer Harp, Pendulyre, Pendulung, and Schmoos instruments, which use speaker transducers and piezo mics and produce a wide variety of sound from feedback, resonance, and amplification. Senn's instruments look great and they make the most interesting sounds!" - label description.

Sensorband
"Area / Puls"
CD
$13.00
Sonoris (France)
SON-31
"Sensorband is a trio of musicians using interactive technology. Gestural interfaces - ultrasound, infrared, and bioelectric sensors - become musical instruments. The group, Edwin van der Heide, Zbigniew Karkowski, Atau Tanaka, each soloists on their instruments for over six years, formed Sensorband to create a performance ensemble. Edwin plays the MIDIconductor, machines worn on his hands that send and receive ultrasound signals, measuring the hands' rotational positions of and relative distance. Zbigniew activates his instrument by the movement of his arms in the space around him. This cuts through invisible infrared beams mounted on a scaffolding structure. Atau plays the BioMuse, a system that tracks neural signals (EMG), translating electrical signals from the body into digital data. Together, Sensorband creates a live group dynamic, bringing a visceral physical element to interactive technologies. Sensorband's projects center around the theme of physicality and human control/discontrol in relation with technology. About the members: Edwin van der Heide is a composer, performer and instrument builder based in Utrecht, The Netherlands. He creates spatial control instruments that extend technology developed at STEIM in Amsterdam, and develops custom musical DSP performance software. Atau Tanaka is a Japanese-American composer and performer currently based in Tokyo. He has lived in San Francisco where he began working with the BioMuse, a neural musical instrument controller. He lived in Paris to work at IRCAM. His performances use corporeal gesture to articulate music and sound synthesis and real time image transformation. Zbigniew Karkowski is a Polish-Swedish composer/musician presently living and working in Tokyo, Japan. He has worked professionally in the areas of written contemporary music, industrial music, pop music and experimental performance for the last 11 years. He is active in the underground noise scene in Japan. First CD from this trio already well known for there performances. The basic materials are pure oscillator waves. 'Area/puls' gathers one half an hour pure analogue track and three digital tracks of strong electronic music. The result can be considered as the missing point between Hafler trio (Z. Karkowski used to be a regular member), Ryoji Ikeda and no-rhythmical Panasonic." - label description. Digipak.

Luis Maria Serra
"Melélogo • A.M. à deux • Marina"
CD
$15.00
IMEB (France)
LDC 278 1121
a collection of four electroacoustic pieces which present a dialogue dealing with the French Revolution, and in particular some of the French colonies and their slaves. this works in some slave songs, and various other musical elements.

Stuart Saunders Smith
"Breath: The Percussion Music of Stuart Saunders Smith"
CD
$12.00
11 West Records (U.S.)
DCA10086
"The snare drum is quite finite in its sonic potentials. Because of this a listener can quickly learn its timbral range. Once the listener is acclimated to the sound of an instrument, the focus of the listening experience is in the actual playing (touching) and the 'music', which is far more than the mere sound of an instrument." - from the liner notes. this collects 8 of his percussion pieces, the last of which uses flute and trumpet and another with voice, otherwise all instrumentation is percussive in various sizes and types from solo drumset to vibraphone trio. the works span from 1981 to 2001 and include among them some subtle works.

Sonic Catering Band
"Live from the Canteens of Atlantis"
2 x CD
$14.00
Absurd (Greece)
absurd cd#30
"Spanning their very brief live career from 1998 - 2001, the two CDs convey all that was exciting, frustrating, ridiculous and ultimately nourishing about an Sonic Catering performance. CD 1 begins at the beginning: w/ the first carrot chop at London's 333 nightclub, 27th September 1998 and ends at the end: Geneva's Moloko restaurant, 9th November 2001. In between lies a lean collage mix of culinary overdrive, assembled from every gig the project did capturing the various moods & atmospheres that were created during their live sets. Extracts of their 5 hour shift at The Moloko are manipulated and included between tracks 1,3,5 and capture/present a dense atmosphere at the restaurant. a CD giving you a great example of their sound, showing nearly all of the project's sides, full of various & bizarre moods & atmospheres, sometimes a bit rhythmic or others harsh or obscure. CD 2 is the documentation of their last proper performance at Geneva's Forde Gallery. An hour's recording full of meditative, abstract, spacious soundscapes. This is Sonic Catering Band's definitive live document, minus the food of course. The CDs come in a gatefold package with a reminisce by the band and a list of our live dates/venues." limited edition of 477 copies.

Mikael Stavöstrand
"De|gene|ra|ton"
CD
$8.00
Korm Plastics (Netherlands)
KIP 018
though previously in dark bands such as Inanna and Archon Satani, Mikael in recent years has remade himself and started exploring the world of computer glitch minimalism. taking cues from the likes of Ryoji Ikeda, Farmers Manual, Pan Sonic and maybe even Merzbow, this disc consists of 38 short tracks restructured from other types of music and made into a cut-up electroacoustic music full of silences, small movements and loops.

Lois Svard
"Other Places"
CD
$12.00
Lovely Music, Ltd. (U.S.)
LCD 3052
"'Other Places' is an exploration of Svard's interest in new concepts and ideas in music. This disc features works written for her by composers Elodie Lauten, Jerry Hunt and Kyle Gann. Lois Svard has received enthusiastic acclaim internationally for her performances of contemporary piano music. Critics have praised her for her 'lucid interpretations of unusual and seldom-heard repertoire,' and for the 'extraordinary musicianship' of her playing. She has performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe, commissioning and premiering several works by such American composers as Robert Ashley, William Duckworth, Annea Lockwood, Alvin Lucier, 'Blue' Gene Tyranny, Stephen Scott, Kirk Nurock and David First. The three works on 'Other Places' share the ability to expand the performer's and listener's musical parameters in unique ways. Elodie Lauten's 'Variations on the Orange Cycle' is a richly-textured combination of transcribed improvisation and intentional notation that creates lush, ever-changing tapestries of sound. Jerry Hunt's 'Trapani (stream)' is a contemplative work exploring different facets of sound through a progression of tremolo chords played with a variety of voicings, dynamics and pedalings. 'Trapani's' slowly-changing harmonies are serene in their simplicity, yet mesmerizing in their unfolding. Kyle Gann's 'Desert Sonata' is based on his unique rhythmic language developed from the multi-tempo structures of Conlon Nancarrow and the dances of the Hopi, Zuni and other Pueblo Indians. Gann's juxtaposition of widely divergent musical ideas creates an atmosphere that is both compelling and enchanting." - label description.

Syllyk / Alain Basso
"Le temps des soupirs / Entraves évanescentes"
CD EP
$7.00
Dedali Opera (France)
CD OPUS 03
two ten minute pieces based around the electroacoustic processing of field recordings. the first, by Eric La Casa's Syllyk project, presents a building swell of noise and sound like a heavy wind or waterfall with clattering and shaking objects. the second is an electroacoustic treatment (mutation) of outdoor sounds, doors and distant voices. Alain Basso played bass and violin in the group Denier du Culte from 1982 to 1986 [several cassette releases and collaborative LP with Pacific 231], and in 1987 founded the band Phaeton Dernière Danse [see collaborative CD with Le Syndicat on Pure]. In 1989, he started his label Dedali Opera. In 1985, he become a student in electroacoustic courses at Collectif et cie, where he has recorded the track on this release. In his solo work, he tries to create a sonorous paste with manifold thickness which gets out of shape and tears roughly. This step accentuates toward two antagonistic tendencies: the first imposing broken rhythms or melodies breaking in nervous waves, the second putting in obviousness some vibrant masses in which oscillations superimpose themselves until the final explosion.

Pierre Tanguay
"La musique de mon disque"
CD
$12.00
Ambiances Magnétiques (Canada)
AM 079 CD
"This is 'dark ambient' background music for all occasions that is both minimalist and striking, played on invented instruments and recycled objects by a folklorist of the imagination." - label description. out of print.

Martin Tétreault, René Lussier & Michel F. Côté
"Des pas et des mois"
CD
$12.00
Ambiances Magnétiques (Canada)
AM 017 CD
"Martin Tétreault is not a standard musician: his instruments are turntables. A specialist of reduction and trafficking, he has been fascinated by vinyl for several years: cutting up, scratching, scraping and even sanding the grooves. He will even go as far as ironing his victims to extract unheard sonorities! His first album, 'Des pas et des mois' has been conceived with the company of René Lussier, Michel F Côté, Jean Derome and Robert Marcel Lepage. Unwoven rhythms, twisted steps and social dance: Martin Tétreault plays like a mad scientist at mixing genres, creating a narrative music with his recorded samplings and his carefully dosed feedbacks.Audacious, different, new, this music is related to rock by its humorous energy, and touches the inner rhythms of the modern world." - label description.

Troum
"Tjukurrpa (Part One: Harmonies)"
CD
$14.00
Transgredient Records (Germany)
TR-01
"This is the first release on Troum's new label Transgredient and also the first part of the 'Tjukurrpa'-trilogy, aiming to show the different sides of Troum's organic & archaic dreamscapes. This part one is dedicated to 'harmonies', containing seven yearnful & atmospheric tracks made by guitar, bass, accordion, voices and effects. The aboriginal word 'Tjukurrpa', translated as 'dreamtime', should symbolize the aim to build music that creates a dreamy state of mind, music of yearning, meditation and inner movement. The 'Tjukurrpa'-trilogy shows the three basic musical spheres of Troum, 'harmonies', 'drones' and 'pulsations': This first part presents the harmonic, slow & sad beauty-side of Troum. First edition of 500 copies in a special full-colour circle-cover!" - label description.

Troum
"Tjukurrpa (Part Two: Drones)"
CD
$14.00
Transgredient Records (Germany)
TR-02
"This is the second release on Troum's new label Transgredient and also the second part of the 'Tjukurrpa'-trilogy, aiming to show the different sides of Troum's organic & archaic dreamscapes. This part two is dedicated to drones; presenting five highly atmospheric and droning tracks ranging from minimal to monumental sounds, from dark ambient to more ritualistic areas: these are drones to loose your rational mind in and reach boundless spheres of mind. The music on 'Tjukurrpa II' is made by loops based on metal-sounds, percussion & other more obscure sources, as well as mouth-organ, choirs, guitars, and effects. The aboriginal word Tjukurrpa translated as 'dreamtime', should symbolize the aim to build music that creates a dreamy state of mind, music of yearning, meditation and inner movement. The 'Tjukurrpa'-trilogy shows the three basic musical spheres of Troum, harmonies, drones and pulsations/rhythms. This second part presents the dark, droney & minimal side of Troum. Comes in a special full-colour circle-cover! Troum is 2/3 of Maeror Tri, creating submospheric music for the deeper mind!" - label description.

Stylianos Tziritas / Madder
"Rabbitspeech"
CDR
$7.00
Absurd (Greece)
absurd cdr#19
split release by two Greek artists making subtle creaking noises via extended vocal techniques, live electronics, amplified toy typewriter, turntable and objects. all of the pieces remain rather low key noise music. "on the 23 & 24/4/02 our friend Stylianos_Tziritas handled his 'Rabbitspeech' theatre performance at Small Music Theatre. having told us a couple of months ago that he had in mind to ask also a group to do a live show somehow influenced from the performance's text, we volunteered to be that project, as we feel like we share a lot in common w/ Styliano's ideology. so here's nothing but the documentation of our 2 live shows including also the soundscapes created by Stylianos_Tziritas for his performance." - Madder from the liner notes. limited to 155 numbered copies.

UNACD
"Long lut de bélemnite"
CD
$17.00
Prométhée (France)
CD-Pr 001
this 1992 release features Vincent Vivien (clarinet, bass clarinet and percussion), Vincent Legrand (acoustic guitar, electric prepared guitar, bass guitar, harmonium and device), Eric Cordier (hurdy-gurdy, African luth and treatments) and Christophe Grosos (organ, harmonium, spinet-sarangi, acoustic guitar and percussion) plus the work of photographer Mélina Doudoux. recorded in La Haye de Routot's church and the Hotel Dieu's chapel in Honfleur (with an organ dating from the 17-18th century), the acoustic instruments are allowed to sing beautifully. the music is presented in three movements. the first, "Propriétaire Actuellement Inconnu" has a strong flavor of avant-garde classic work and might appeal to fans of Mauricio Kagel as it uses the organ and clarinet, among others, to play against each other in six lively but dissonant section. the short "Térence" uses percussion, often sounding like bells, as a starting point for tape manipulation. the final section is entitled "NPAI" and explores the full range of the ensemble's instruments in different combinations ranging from solo improvisations to folky drones. stunningly presented in a 12" square, 12-page booklet wrapped by a 12" by 24" print etched by Luc Thiburs. the print reveals multiple layers texture, both in terms of imagery and tactile quality as the process has embossed the paper. released in a numbered edition of 1000 copies.

Josep Vallribera / Tony Moore
"Assessments and Translations"
CD
$16.00
Matchless Recordings (England)
MRCD28
a collaboration between Spanish painter Vallribera and English cellist Moore (Free Jazz Quartet, Kiln, Resound, The Steve Miller Trio) recorded in 1995. the double tracked pieces on this 45 minute album combine classical virtuosity with the liveliness of free improvisation. "This recording is an interpretation of four scores with variations conceived during a collaboration between artist Josep Vallribera and myself. This took place at an atelier in Thelstorf, Niedersachen in Germany and was subsequently recorded in Amsterdam." - Tony Moore.

Jan van den Dobbelsteen
"Volume 12: Music for Closed Eyes"
CD
$11.00
Cosmic Volume (Netherlands)
cosmic12
a repetitive landscape of whistling ambient feedback reminiscent of "The 150 Murderous Passions…". one piece in 99 tracks and lasting 71 minutes. packaged in hard envelope with sticker cover and insert.

Caspar Johannes Walter
"Knoten"
CD
$19.00
Edition Thürmchen (Germany)
ETH 9831
compositions from the cellist of the Thürmchen Ensemble, including three cello trios, a short piece for choir, a duet for flute and bowed percussion, and a piece for trumpet, 2 cellos, and speaker. this is the second collection of his compositions, following a disc on Wergo. "… His conspicuously highly developed personal style is based upon careful listening. The audible influences of John Cage and Morton Feldman on the spiritual side and Helmut Lachenmann and Mathias Spahlinger on the material level - although one can scarcely separate the two - oblige many of his pieces to the aesthetics of silence, to the refusal of tumultuous mental and constructional concepts. Their effect calls for a change in perception. In their best moments, the compositions themselves even assist in achieving this … but Walter's pieces, which sometimes last only a few seconds, do not necessarily live from a narration, or a process, but from a gesture, which is, as a rule, formed in a completely logical manner and which is as open as it is closed. Caspar Johannes Walter's imaginative use of the instruments' scraping, scratching and stroking sounds is never violent, but always conveys respect for the instrument …" - Ute Schalz Laurenze, Bremer Weserkurier, 20.4.94. performers featured on this disc are Ulrike Zavelberg (cello), Tobias Moster (cello), Casper Johannes Walter (cello), Neue Vokalsolisten Stuttgart (choir), Astrid Schmeling (flute), Matthias Kaul (percussion), Reinhold Friedrich (trumpet), and Manos Tsangaris (speech).

Tim Walters
"The Dry Well"
CD
$9.00
Core Dump Records (U.S.)
Core Dump Beta
"'The Dry Well' is a dark and emotionally charged musical work, created by extreme digital processing of acoustic sound sources. The first three tracks ('Two-Thirds God', 'Descent of Inanna', and 'Under') are based on the Epic of Gilgamesh, a Sumerian legend that may be the oldest surviving work of literature. They evoke ritual, mythic journey, and the transition from the material to the spiritual realm. The last three tracks ('For Want of a Nail', 'Valence', and 'The Dry Well'), by contrast, are based on the formal idea of achieving as much as possible with severely limited means. Every sound in the three pieces originated from a kalimba (African thumb piano) built by one Molly Clark, age 8. From this child's instrument, a wealth of sound was created, gradually moving away from 'natural' kalimba tone and toward the realm of pure noise." - label description.

Whitelodge
"Stream of Dreams"
10"
$9.00
Beta-Lactam Ring Records (U.S.)
mt031
"#11/12 records in the Lactamase series. A fragment of celestial shrapnel: Whitelodge does indeed 'lodge' itself deep into the mind, restoring with it the body, and being of general benefit to one's overall constitution. Or, perhaps, it's just the little lobotomy you have always dreamed of. This 10" EP reveals a band capable of great magick and prodigious evolution. Whitelodge has become adept at marrying atmosphere to song structure without surrendering to a belabored posture, and this even beyond the debut magnum opus. There has been found a solid footing where each sound, each note, is perfectly placed and paced. Beginnings are given to pregnant, breathing intros, allowing the music to develop and resonate before the fully formed imagoes emerge, which ARE songs, but also tone poems. While not sounding at all like them, Whitelodge's methodology is something akin to My Bloody Valentine on 'Loveless', where pieces are sewn together, each ending making a subtle statement towards the birth of the next; textures taking equal place next to structure. The EP continues Whitelodge's exploration of quiet cosmics, both evoking psych-folk of old and more modern elements, like the gentler psychedelic moments found in Cindytalk (when growling through the hush, buzzing in the rushes) or Karl Blake seduced Sol Invictus (tiptoe, through the bassline). Because of timing and tone Red House Painters is a close cousin in many respects except that Whitelodge frames its songs with a greater emphasis towards experimentalism and certainly occupies a more ghostly plane. Repeated listenings virtually leave traces of ectoplasm on the speakers. Dustin Gilbert's voice is a patient and subdued instrument, confident and softly percussive and, by and by, very compelling. A beautiful and mysterious riddle of a release, which, if unraveled, may well, be a key to Heaven." - label description. limited edition of 500 copies.

"An Uncommon Nature"
LP
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM 6
Coinciding with the 10th anniversary of Anomalous Records' existence, we are releasing a compilation album based around recordings from the outdoors, and featuring artists we release or are going to in the near future. Featured on this LP are new recordings from: Jeph Jerman, Mirror, Agog, Climax Golden Twins, Jonathan Coleclough, Mike Shannon, Monos, Richard Lerman, and Dave Knott. Throughout the packaging, and on four enclosed postcards, are beautiful black and white photographs taken by Rachael Jackson in the Olympic National Park in Washington state. While unified by a common theme, the tracks are quite varied including desert contact mic recordings of rain and wind on a tree [Jeph Jerman], processed sounds of a gate [Jonathan Coleclough], erhu played on a beach [Mike Shannon], mysterious singing 'water babies' [Agog], a mixture of wild celery stalks, tundra grass, a cord made from sinew, a whalebone roof support and the seals [Richard Lerman], and the straight recording of an approaching thunderstorm [Dave Knott]. This attention to detail in audio is matched by the close up photographs of fungi, dripping sap, and trees which surrounds it.

"BOXmedia CDR Series #1 Sampler"
CDR
$10.00
BOXmedia (U.S.)
BOXCDR100
sampler with one track each from all the CDRs in the first series. includes tracks by TV Pow, Shifts, AD-Relay, Andreas Berthling, Gunshop, Jliat, Liminal, and Sugimoto / Nakamura / Aikyama / Gutzeit. all the individual discs are long out of print. packaged in folded card sleeve with silver front and track listing on the back.

"L'Air du large"
CD
$29.00
Motus (France)
M298004
the fourth release from INA GRM recording artist Denis Dufour's label is lavishly packaged, coming in 108 page, jewel case sized, hardback book with texts (in French with English translations) and photographs. the audio is a collection contemporary music for flute and piano composed by Bertrand Dubedout [previous release on Metamkine], Denis Dufour, Philippe Leroux, Daniel Tosi, and Bruno Giner as performed by Duo Ephémère. though these are instrumental works, they are written by artists schooled in the ways of electronic music (four of the five being former students of the great Ivo Malec). from the liner notes: "Although only revealed by instrumental sources, each work shows a high degree of cross-practice and invites a 'relaxed' mode of listening, appropriate to capturing the evolution of sound material and the richness of its 'morphological' characteristics. As in acousmatics, it is here an issue of projected images, clear-cut or progressive contours, deformations, stretchings, contractions, breaks in the temporal continuum, explosive displacements and somewhat Promethean recompositions of materials: Material / Motion / Music."

"Masse Mensch"
CD
$18.00
Odd Size (France)
CD OS 08
originally released on LP in 1982 by Selektion, this album was compiled by Ralf Wehowsky and Roger Schönauer of P16.D4 and includes pieces by Laughing Hands, P16.D4 (3 tracks), Nurse With Wound, The Work (2 tracks), Smegma, and DDAA (3 tracks). reissued on CD in 1992, this CD version is now long of print like the original LP and a classic of bizarre sounds from the early 1980's. unlike many compilations of the time that were very post-Industrial oriented, this album collects work by artists working in their own unique areas of unusual music.

"Microwave - A Manual"
CDR
$8.00
Microwave Recordings (Netherlands)
M010
minimal electronics. "An introduction to what microwave can be; with a jingle, Radboud Mens, Immedia, Petra Klusmeyer, Monotonos, Hem, Freiband, Kim Cascone, sony_mao, Tarlose, Surge, Brian Lavelle, Massimo, Cancerman, and Arizona Running." - label description.

"Spike - Works from BEAST - Vol. 1"
CD
$14.00
Sargasso (U.K.)
SCD28034
"All compositions on this CD were created in the Electroacoustic Music Studios at the University of Birmingham. Founded in 1982 at Birmingham University by Jonty Harrison, BEAST is dedicated to the public presentation of electroacoustic music through the use of multichannel sound systems. A diverse choice of composers and compositional styles testify of the richness and excitement of pure sound exploration. The best of BEAST." - label description. with pieces by Ian Armstrong, Simon Scardanelli, Dugal McKinnon, Antti Saario, Derek Thompson, Steven Naylor, Peter Batchelor, James Bentley, and Jamie Bullock.

"Tool"
CDR
$8.00
Microwave Recordings (Netherlands)
M005CD
very minimal rhythms and pulses for use as a tool in making new pieces. "In our microworld of microwave we need something on vinyl - people ask for it. But some people have no need for vinyl, so we decided to release the master that was used for cutting this record. Every track on this CDR last roughly 3 to 4 minutes and can be used a tool too. 19 tracks by /slo-fi, Goem, Surge and Richard Chartier and are loosely based on the first 4 releases on Microwave." - label description. 73 minutes.

"2:00 Matinee"
CD
$4.00
RRRecords (U.S.)
RRR-CD-25
various extracts of 1997 live in-store performances by Crank Sturgeon, Save Yourself, Jim Phelps Motherfucker, Lance Gargoyle, Foom, The Domains, Idea Fire Company, Commode Minstrals in Bullface, Quarreling Xenophobic Waitresses, and Jason Lescalleet.

"Variable Resistance - Ten Hours of Sound from Australia"
CD
$12.00
23five Incorporated / San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art (U.S.)
23F/SFM 902
"September 7-17, 2002 the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art will presented 'Variable Resistance - Ten Hours of Sound from Australia', a selection of work by contemporary Australian sound artists. Organized by the multi-talented Australian musician and curator Philip Samartzis, 'Variable Resistance' surveys a cross-section of contemporary trends in Australian sound art practice. To underscore the extensive nature of these explorations in sound, the exhibition features a ten-day 'listening room' presentation of prerecorded material as well as an evening of live performances by four of the leading experimental musicians in Australia at present: David Brown, Pimmon, Philip Samartzis and Darrin Verhagen. The companion CD consists of 11 tracks by Oren Ambarchi, Robbie Avenaim, Philip Samartzis, David Brown, Jim Knox (xonk), Thembi Soddell, Darrin Verhagen, Pimmon and Delire. The beautiful 24 page booklet that accompanies the CD contains program notes and extensive writing about Noise and the Australian contemporary music scene." - label description.

"Variations 2 - A London Compilation"
CD
$15.00
Paradigm Discs (England)
PD 05
another excellent collection of lesser known and infrequently recorded artists living in London. "Akemi Ishijima has so far had only one other work released on CD, although she has had many international performances and broadcasts. She is currently completing her PhD at the Centre for Electroacoustic Music Studies at City University. Michael Ormiston is a virtuoso Khöömii singer with 3 tours of Mongolia under his belt. This piece uses only the morin khuur, a traditional Mongolian stringed instrument, but whilst the music here utilizes the harmonic techniques so sacred to the Mongolians, it also extends beyond its traditional origins. This is his first release on CD. Tom Wallace is an independent composer who organizes the Sonomorph events in London. The 2 events so far have focused mainly on new acousmatic works by young composers, as well as free improvisation. Hugh Davies is one of the first names in the academic world of electronic music. Additionally, his involvement in music making extends from working on groundbreaking pieces with Stockhausen in the mid 60's to playing in Music Improvisation Company in the 70's, and working with Borbetomagus in the 80's. John Grieve is the one artist to carry over from the first volume of variations. His statements are pure and direct. This is another piece for tenor saxophone. Bob Cobbing and Lawrence Upton recorded live at The Klinker. At the age of 77, Cobbing is undoubtedly Britain's foremost sound poet. Previous recordings are thin on the ground and nothing much has appeared in the last 2 decades. He does however, give many performances across London, often with Birdyak, (a trio with Hugh Metcalfe and Lol Coxhill.) Upton has occasionally collaborated with Cobbing since 1969. Clive Graham is better known for his involvement in the live electronics group Morphogenesis and the running of Paradigm Discs. This is his first solo recording. Rolf Gehlhaar became Stockhausen's personal assistant between 1967 and 1970 whilst at the same time he became a member of the Stockhausen Ensemble, with whom he toured and recorded extensively. Since this time he has concentrated on composition and the performance of his own works. This culminated in 1985 with the development of a real-time remote gestural control system. It consists of a set of ultrasonic sensors that pick up the movements of the performer/s, the sensors are linked to a computer, running real-time sound synthesis or sampler control. The many applications of this system are collectively known as SOUND=SPACE. Over the years he has continued to return to the infinite flexibility of this system. Additionally this piece is UHJ encoded for ambisonic playback. He has been living in London since 1975." - label description.

"Zenflesh Two - Homegrown - Organic - Purifying"
CD
$7.00
Zenflesh Records (U.S.)
ZFR2
this 1995 compilation includes tracks by Petit Mal, Andru Kirkpatrick, Matt Bramlette, Accelerator, Turk Knifes Pope, Hape Angel, Sound Source 21, and Brownie Mallets - all relatively unknown artists from the United States creating subtle organic noisescapes which quietly creep along. packaged in cardstock wallet.